Olympus University
by hakuna-matataa
Summary: Percy has a rough life. Not only is he being forced to go to the top—ahem...hardest—college in America, but honestly, working at a fast food restaurant sounds better to him than working on a year-long project with a wicked, blonde-haired little braniac...
1. The Arrival

"You have _got _to be kidding me." I said to my parents sitting across the table. "Olympus University? You do know that's a college, right?"

"Yes, honey," my mom said. "We're well aware of that."

"And what about my performance in high school made you think I would last even a day at OU? I have a one-point-eight GPA. The minimum to get in there is, like, five-point-nine."

"Look, it's not about the education," my dad said. "We're not sending you there because we know you're smart enough because, frankly, you're not."

"Poseidon," my mom threatened.

"What? He's my son—he deserves to hear it how it is."

"_Poseidon!_"

"But apart from that," he said, just brushing her off. "like I said, it's not about the education. I'm the vice-president, your uncle Zeus is the president, and your uncle Hades is the Dean of Students. Because of all that, you pretty much get to go to college for free."

"Well, it's not _only_ about the money," my mom added. "We also do agree that maybe a challenge like this might be good for you."

"Or it might be worse than burning in hell," I said. "I'm more betting on my theory."

"You don't have to make it sound so bad, honey. Maybe if you go into it thinking that it will be great, then it will be."

"That's for optimistic people, mom, and this is no time for optimism. You're talking to me about _college_—the _top _college. There is no way in hell that I'm going to humiliate myself by suffering with a bunch of nerds for something I really don't care much about."

"Perseus Jackson, all you've done for the last year is you've sat around and watched TV," my dad stated harshly. "You're going."

Normally, I would never give in this easily, but my dad was using his harsh-voice. And trust me, you don't want to mess with my dad when he's using his harsh-voice. All I could do was groan.

"Good," my dad said while tapping the table. "Then it's all set."

And with that, I was enrolled in the top college in America.

* * *

So, let me start from the beginning.

Hi, my name is Percy Jackson. My parents split when I was six and until now, I have been living with my mom and her new husband, Paul, in New York.

As my dad has informed you, after high school, I took a year and two months off. Why? Honestly, I never really bothered to fill out any applications to colleges. The idea of going to school for another four-odd years just didn't sound appealing to me. I also wasn't in the mood to be made fun of by teachers and students again for not being able to read or write very well. I have ADHD and dyslexia so clearly school had never been my strong-suit.

Now ignoring college probably wasn't my smartest move considering I was now on a plane to Seattle where I would be attending OU—the top-slash-hardest college pretty much known to man—but it was too late now.

The fact that I was enrolled in a college I had no desire or intelligence to go to wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was the fact that I was on a six hour plan ride with my dad who was giving me every detail about the college that I was being forced to go to. Every. Detail.

"And there are these walls in the courtyard that kind of stack up like stadium seats. Some of the students like to sit there between classes." He paused. "Well, when it's not raining, at least."

I groaned for about the sixtieth time and he ignored me for about the sixtieth time.

My dad switched topics to something about the dorms when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I took it out and looked at the screen:

_New Message: Calypso._

I deleted it. Calypso was my crazy ex-girlfriend who hadn't stopped texting me since we graduated. She pretty publicly dumped me when she found out that I almost cheated on her with this other girl. But come, on—I _almost _cheated. I was caught before I did. However, even though it was very clear that _she_ dumped _me,_ she still texts me almost every day about anything and everything. Most of the time, she just makes up things just to talk to me: _Hey, um, I have a question. _Doubt it. _Percy, I heard this rumor about you! _Don't care. _Percy, how have things been?! _Great, until now. I pretty much just delete them all.

Clearly, the break-up didn't harm me emotionally at all.

"Okay, passengers, we are about to take our descent into Seattle, Washington," the pilot said over the intercom. "The time is now 2:12 PM Seattle-time on Friday, August twenty-third, and it's about sixty-eight degrees. We were lucky enough to be flying in when it wasn't raining." Some of the passengers—including my dad—laughed. I rolled my eyes. "We should be at the gate and getting you folks off the plane in just about five minutes. Thank you for flying with us and have a great time in Seattle."

The intercom clicked off right at the plane bumped on to the ground. "Well, here we go," my dad said.

"Yup," I said. "I guess so."

* * *

The taxi ride wasn't too bad. The campus was just outside of the Seattle area so it didn't make for a very long trip. My dad, however, still kept running his mouth about everything to see and do there. I tried to listen but the fact that I had no desire to go to this school made it very hard.

And, yes, I'll admit it: I was a little nervous.

All I kept thinking about was how fast they could kick me out of that place. I'd probably be the first one to ever flunk out in less than a week. I brought this up to my dad on the plane ride and he just told me to try my best. I could tell that we both knew that "my best" wouldn't be nearly good enough. Then he brought up another idea.

"Well, what about a tutor, son? That might actually be—"

"No."

"But if you just were to try—"

"No."

And that was the end of that.

The campus was in full swing when we pulled up. Hundreds of cars and trucks were parked randomly in the parking lot. I noticed lots of students already struggling to their dorm rooms with probably around forty pounds of stuff on their back.

As we pulled up, some students recognized my dad's dark hair and totally unprofessional Hawaiian shirt and waved to him. As they did this, they noticed me as well and just gazed at me with curiosity and confusion.

"What's their problem?" I asked.

He just shrugged. "Eh, who knows with college kids these days."

The cab stopped in front of the entrance and I stepped out. I got some more curious looks, but I just ignored them as I walked around back to grab our bags from the trunk. My dad paid the driver then stepped out as well to help me. As the cab drove away, all I could think of was, _No turning back now._

I kept my head down and glumly walked to my dorm with my dad on my tail. As I was passing a huge building that my dad told me was the school's library, a girl with her head buried in a book was walking out and she knocked into me.

"Sorry," I said, looking up for half a second.

She looked up then as well. She had curly blonde hair that was pulled back in a pony-tail and stormy-gray eyes that, at the moment, burned with annoyance and impatience. She rolled them like balls. "Whatever." Then she stepped around me and continued back to her book as if I wasn't ever there at all.

My dad noticed this and chuckled. "So, you excited?"

"Oh yeah," I said. "Overjoyed."


	2. The Girl

**okay chapter 2 ! sorry i didnt get it up last night - i had some last minute family issues to take care of . **

**thanks to those who reviewed ! : Nikita Jackson 1997, Snowcloud35, TheLovelyDreamChaser, Mini Jackson, achillesheel02, ilGyhs, Anna1090**

**& please please PLEASE check out & review my other new story Percy & Annabeth ! it's an important one to me !**

* * *

"G-man?" I said into my phone after dropping all my stuff in the doorway of my room. "Yeah, I've had enough."

My room was actually really nice. I was in one of the suites on the top floor of the building which gave the room a nice view of the Seattle skyline. The room itself was probably three times as big as mine back home—even with two full-sized beds, a queen-sized bed, a bathroom (with TWO sinks), and a dresser already in it. There was also a walk-in closet in the corner.

"Already?" my friend, Grover, said. "What's wrong with it?"

The queen-sized bed was already taken. Black sheets were lazily thrown across it and there were probably five different pillows; they were black as well. Over the bed was a poster of some heavy-metal band and two other posters of half-naked girls sitting on cars. The dresser was also already taken and had some dirty pieces of clothing sticking out of it—all black. More clothes were sprawled across the floor. On the nightstand was a black and red lamp, a wallet, and a skull-ring. "My roommate is some goth kid."

"Oh, Percy," Grover said with a sigh. "That's not so bad." Grover had always been the rational one of the two of us. He was more calm, reserved, "at peace with himself and nature," and other stuff like that. Whenever I would ask him for advice or tell him about events in my life, I could expect a lecture about how I should take life easy and be at peace with myself as well. Sometimes it really pisses me off, but Grover is my best friend and I take him as he is.

"That's what you say. You're not the one being forced to go to OU." I picked my stuff up and dragged it to the bed furthest away from the goth one. I don't have anything against goth kids, but I would be lying if I said that they don't sometimes creep me out.

"Yes, because I _willingly _went to NYU," Grover stated proudly.

"Yeah, I don't see how," I mumbled.

"Not everyone hates learning, Percy," he said while laughing.

"No, just most people."

"Hey." I turned around and saw a guy standing in the doorway.

"Hey," I said to him. I turned back to Grover and said, "G-man, I've got to go. I'll talk to you later."

"Okay, see you," he said. I heard the click of the line going dead then shut my phone.

The guy (whom I assumed was my roommate) walked in and sat down on his bed. "Percy, right?"

I raised my eyebrows. "How'd you know?"

"I'm Nico." He smirked. "Believe it or not, we're cousins."

This guy clearly wasn't one to lead up to things. He was just one to tell it like it was. I liked him already. I couldn't help myself—I started laughing. "You're kidding."

He shook his head. "My dad is Hades. Obviously, you know our family—we're not very close."

I chuckled and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you're right. No offence, man, but I didn't even know you existed." I started unpacking some of my stuff.

"Same with you," he said. "I got here last week and have been trying to find stuff to do since; one of the things was I went to my dad's office and pretty much demanded that he tell me who my roommates would be. Two minutes later _bam_—I had a cousin."

I chuckled. "Do you know who our other roommate is?"

"No. My dad told me that we were supposed to have another roommate who would also be like a VIP, but he bailed a couple days ago."

"Lucky bastard."

"Right?"

I claimed the walk-in closet and started throwing in some of my clothes. "So why were you here early?"

"My dad had some last minute work to do. He dragged me with him." Nico kicked off his shoes. "Man, I can't even tell you how boring it was. And my guess is the rest of the year isn't going to be much better."

"I hear you," I said. I couldn't believe it—I wasn't the only one here who didn't want to be. "So my guess is your dad forced you to enroll here too?"

"Against my will, yes. Actually, a lot of our extended family is here. I've already seen like two or three long-lost cousins. But they're like, way out there. You're the only one I've met who I would actually say I was related to."

I scoffed. "And I thought I would be the only one here who didn't want to be."

"There's a lot more than you think," he said. "I spent some of last week looking up other peoples' GPA's too to see if they actually got in or were just being dragged here like me."

I looked at him with confusion. "Can you do that?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. But who cares? I wasn't really planning on staying here."

I smiled. "You know, I think you and me are going to get along just fine."

He smirked. "Yeah, okay, gay boy." I laughed.

* * *

The first week of classes blurred by. Everyday seemed the same to me: meet my teacher, get a textbook, groan, keep my head down for the rest of class. The classes themselves actually weren't that bad except for English, but that one no one can blame me for being bad at. You would be bad at it too if every time you looked at a book, the words flew off the page.

English was my first class of the day on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for the whole first semester. Instead of looking at it as a bad start to my day, I looked at it as an extra hour and a half to sleep. My professor—who wants us all to call him Chiron—doesn't really care. The most he does is holds me back after class to tell me that I should try harder.

Chiron was cool. The times that I am paying attention in class, he's always making jokes and trying to make the boring topics that we're required to cover interesting.

"Good morning, everyone," he said as we filled in. I noticed that in this school, everyone dressed up for classes, or they at least put effort into their looks. I always felt under-dressed but at the same time, I was always too tired to care. Today I walked into class wearing a sort-of clean shirt and jeans.

We all found our seats and Chiron rolled to the front of the room. He was in a wheelchair for reasons unknown. On the first day, he told us that if we ever asked, he'd fill that persons dorm room with water. No more questions were asked.

"So I'm going to get right down to it," he said. "This is my ninth year teaching and every year, I've been teaching the same things. And to be totally honest, it bores me." Some students laughed. "Don't get me wrong, I love English—that's why I majored in it and became a professor. However, I'm always open for trying new things, exploring new information."

Chiron rolled to the whiteboard and wrote the date _May 4th_ in big letters on it. "Class," he started again. "I hope you enjoyed your reading assignment over the weekend because that was your last assignment for the rest of the year." Cheers and some "Are you serious?" questions erupted from the room. Even I could help but throw my head back and cheer with the rest of the class. That went on for about thirty seconds before Chiron heldup his hand up quiet us. "Except for this."

Chiron rolled to the side of the room and put up the projection screen. On the old blackboard underneath, the words _Famous World Literature Essay _was written in perfect calligraphy.

"Everyone in this room will be participating in a year-long project with a partner of my choosing," he said. "You will choose a famous piece of literature that was written in some country other than the United States. At the end of the year, you will write a five-page essay on what you learned about the piece and what you think the piece meant."

_That's it?_ I thought. Seriously, five pages wasn't long at all. Even I could do that. Everyone in the room had the same reaction of confusion. Why would we need a whole year to do that?

"The rest of the year," Chiron continued. "You will be researching and studying your piece. If you wish, you can ask to take a so-called field trip with your partner if you think that may help with the outcome of your essay to the place of your choosing, just as long as you pay for it." A couple giggles came after that as well.

Chiron suddenly became more serious. His eyes sparkled with passion and faith. "Class, I want these essays to be more than just a paper—I want them to really say something. I want them to speak to others and me in ways that simple words can't. On May fourth, I should be getting twenty-two perfect essays—one for each set of partners, and here they are: Touie and Harley, Johnson and Tess, Peter and Rivers, Jackson and Chase..." _Chase?_ _Who's Chase? _The girl that I ran into the other day was sitting in the front row. She also just happened to turn around and shoot me the same annoyed look that she gave me before.

Sure, she was gorgeous. Long, blonde hair, interesting and intense gray eyes, a bone-deep tan, and a body that would put the girls on Nico's wall to shame. She was also one of the girls who dressed up for class and was wearing a short skirt and a tank top. But honestly, just her bitchy attitude and the daggers that she happened to be shooting at me right then made her very unattractive and just plain unlikeable. I smiled and waved excitedly at her which made her roll her eyes and mumble something to herself. My guess: she was my partner.

The rest of the list was read off and Chiron sent us to our work. Blondie got up from her seat and turned around to lean on the back of the chair. Without even blinking, she just waited until I realized that she was waiting for me. I grabbed my backpack and walked so I was right in front of her and leaned on a different desk, mocking her position. She rolled her eyes.

"So, um, I guess you're my partner," I said. "I'm Percy."

"I know who you are," she said. "You're the VP's son. He's told me about you."

"You know my dad?"

"I took some courses here last year," she said with confidence. "I skipped a grade but the work was still too easy for me."

"Wait," I said. "You're...You're seventeen?"

She smirked. "Duh. And what are you, twenty-five?"

"Nineteen," I answered, glaring. "But don't feel too bad about getting that wrong; you obviously aren't very good at reading people."

She glared back. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You don't even know me!" I pointed out. "And yet, you're insulting me and mocking me."

"_I'm_ mocking _you?_" She scoffed. "Look at yourself, Jackson." I looked down and realized I was still in the exact same position that she was: arms crossed and one leg over the other. I stood up straight.

"Whatever. That still doesn't make up for the fact that you don't know me."

"From what I hear," she said while picking at her nails. "you're cocky, arrogant, and can't comprehend anything that has to do with the English language, which is everything."

That did it. At first, I was just messing with her but that seriously offended me. She was just like any other kid in my school who didn't even know what I was coming from. To this Chase girl, I was only "dumb" because I wanted to be—not because I didn't have a choice. "I'm 'comprehending' this conversation just fine," I growled. I took a step closer to her. "It's _you_ who needs better comprehension."

"_Ooh_, that was a good one, Jackson." She took a step forward as well. "But unlike you, I actually _deserve_ to be in this school. I worked my ass off to get in here and I'm going to do the same on this project whether you help me or not. And honestly, I think we'd both benefit if you would just stay out of the way."

"Oh, shut up, Blondie!"

"It's Annabeth."

"Whatever," I said while grabbing my backpack. "You know what? I don't need to explain anything to you, but I will say that I'm not just going to skip out on this stupid project. Oh, and by the way, you don't need to dress up every day. It's just English class."

She shrugged. "Hey, it's better than wearing rags like you."

If eyes could shoot daggers, little miss Annabeth would be dead by now. I'm sure I would be as well because she was giving me the same look.

"You don't like me and I don't like you?" I proposed.

"Hey, there's one thing we can agree on." She smirked.

Without another word or even a dismissal from Chiron, I took my bag and left.

* * *

**review y'all . -kenna(:**


	3. The Coffee

**thanks to those who reviewed the last chap !: Willholmer, AzianDemigod16, AntiThalico, wbasoccer, Zoegurl49**

**enjoy(:**

* * *

"She is the most unbelievable," I slammed my books on the table. "intolerable," I slid my backpack off my shoulders and kicked it under my bed. "and just straight up _bitchiest_ blonde on the face of this planet!"

Nico didn't even seem to be surprised. He just went back to his music. "Gee, Percy, I can't help but notice that you're upset."

"Oh, shut it, Nico," I shot back without mercy. This seemed to make him glance up. "This is serious."

He sighed and pulled out his ear buds. "Okay. So you met a bitchy chick today?"

"Yes!" I threw my hands up in frustration. "She's my partner for a year-long project."

"What's her name?"

I sat down on my bed. "Annabeth." Even the name at this point made me want to stick my tongue out. I have never had this much dislike—_hate_ even—for someone in this short of a period of time, but just the way that Annabeth acted and the way that she insulted me without even knowing me, it just really got me.

Nico's eyes widened. "_Chase?_"

I scrunched my eyebrows. "Uh, I guess so, yeah. Why?"

Nico laughed. "Dude, you got lucky! She has the highest GPA on campus; top twenty in the United States. She was one of the people I looked up the day I snuck onto my dad's computer."

I couldn't help but be slightly impressed. Obviously, she _did_ have a reason to be cocky and annoying. "Okay. Anything more you found out about her?"

"Err, I can't remember much, but I think it said she was president of the National Honors Secrecy—"

"Society."

"Whatever. And I remember seeing that she comes from a pretty successful background."

"Wait," I said while kicking off my shoes. "You could even see her background?"

He nodded as if it was no big deal. "Mostly professors and doctors and stuff. You know, the jobs that no one really thinks of but bring in _a lot_ of money." He smirked probably thinking the same thing I was.

"Ahh, so she's a rich bitch." I chuckled. "Well, that explains the clothes."

He raised an eyebrow. "Clothes?"

"She's one of the annoying people who feel the need to dress up for class." I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, man," he said. "I hope, for your sake, they were at least tight. From what I saw on the site, she's a looker." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Her attitude kills it."

"That bad, huh?"

I growled. "You don't even know the half of it."

Nico started packing some books up. "You think you can get out of it?"

I shrugged. "Maybe."

He slung his backpack on his shoulder. "It's worth a try. I got to get to Stats because my mom called and started yelling at me to try and make me feel really guilty and stuff." He shook his head. "I hope to God you never have to meet this woman, Perce. She's too sweet."

I chuckled. "Alright. See you."

My afternoon faded into night and my night ended quickly with the morning sun blasting through my window. Luckily, I got to spend a day without any blonde girls yelling at me. I tried my best to enjoy every moment.

However, I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that I was going to have to spend the rest of the year with Annabeth. I mean, the year was already going to be bad enough considering the fact that I was forced to be here. Now I was going to have to suffer with some totally hot but wicked nerd girl without any say in it.

My only hope was that Chiron would realize that if the two of us stayed partners, it was likely he was going to have forty-two students in his class instead of forty-four because we were going to kill each other. So even on my day off from Annabeth, I spent every hour thinking about how loudly I would cheer if I was able to switch and spend the next year with a short red-haired girl with headgear and asthma. Anything would be better than Little Miss Chase.

Tuesday came and went far too quickly than I was hoping and next thing I knew, I was pulling on a ratty-old t-shirt for English class.

I went in a little earlier than usual, hoping to get Chiron alone to ask about switching partners, when I literally ran into Annabeth right outside the classroom.

This time, both of our heads were down and she was walking with more purpose. Unfortunately, that meant that she was walking with more speed as well and just so happened to have a cup of coffee in her hand.

We collided, she tripped, the coffee spilled on her white shirt, she raged. "Jesus Christ, Percy!" she said. "You _really_ can't walk with your head up, can you?"

I couldn't help but chuckle. "Nah, but honestly, I'm kind of enjoying this moment."

She glared and looked down at her shirt hopelessly. "Well this is just great. It's going to stain."

I fake gasped. "Oh no! And there's no way that you'll be able to afford a new one!"

Annabeth looked a little shocked. "What the hell are you—"

"Mr. Jackson? Miss Chase?" Chiron rolled out of his classroom, sleepiness still lining his eyes. "What's going on?"

"Jackson doesn't know how to watch where he's going and made me spill my coffee on myself," Annabeth said, still picking at her wet shirt. To be honest, I was trying really hard not to look at her much. Who knew if she was wearing a super sexy bra or something? I'm pretty sure I would get a black eye if she were to catch me staring.

"Hey, I wasn't the only one looking down," I defended.

"Okay, okay," Chiron said calmly. "Both of you relax. It was an accident. Annabeth, you can be excused for the first part of class if you would like to go back to your dorm and change shirts."

Annabeth looked up and blinked. She simply nodded and left without even a thank-you. I watched her leave while still kind of smirking to myself.

Chiron noticed my joy and gave me his classic look of disappointment. "I'm disappointed in you, Mr. Jackson." See what I mean?

"Hey, I said that it wasn't only my fault."

"Not just that," he said. "Mostly because you look like you enjoyed seeing your partner as upset as she was."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, sir," I said. "There's no way in hell that we're going to make it through this year as partners without seriously maiming each other."

Chiron adjusted in his chair. "Do you two know each other?"

"Not really," I said. "The first time we had really met was yesterday unless you count moving day where we literally ran into each other outside of the library. However, that time no one got covered in coffee."

Chiron chuckled. "So then how do you know that you don't get along if you don't know each other?"

"Well, I know her well enough to know the bottom line is that I hate her and she hates me." More and more student started walking around us as the hour closed in. Chiron even looked a little jumpy to get back into the room.

"Percy, my boy," he said. "I'm no therapist—that's the guidance counselor's job—but I do want to give you the slight life lesson that you can't make up your mind about a person after only knowing them for a day."

"But I—" Chiron held up his hand.

"My decision about the partners is final. I'm sorry if that upsets you but hey, just look at it as another challenge to overcome this year."

Chiron grinned before rolling back into the classroom. I groaned and followed him inside, taking my usual seat in the back.

"Morning, class," Chiron greeted as everyone sat down. One desk in the front was still empty. I could easily picture Annabeth angrily scrubbing at her shirt. It put a small smile on my face. _Hey, karma's a bitch, isn't it?_

"So today is day two of researching and work time," Chiron said. "By the end of today, you should have your literature piece picked out and probably just a basic knowledge of it. Remember, I want this final paper to be deep and meaningful so work hard to know everything possible about whatever piece you choose."

He sent us off to work which gave me ten minutes to sleep. The way I was woken up, however, definitely wasn't as peaceful as the blazing sun.

"Mother f—" I caught myself before Chrion would hear. I didn't need another thing about me for him to be disappointed in. I jumped out of my seat and started fanning my (now) wet chest.

Annabeth was standing by my desk with a new shirt, another cup of coffee, and a satisfied grin on her lips. "What, Percy?" she asked. "You look in pain."

"Of course I'm in pain!" I shouted. "You poured hot coffee on my chest!"

She just shrugged. "I'm a girl who likes to get even."

"It was an _accident_," I said. "Plus, yours didn't even look hot."

"Mine had cooled off by then," she stated. "But hey, it woke you up didn't it?"

I cocked my head. "I really don't think that's what people mean when they say that coffee wakes you up."

"Hardy har har," she said. "But now that you're awake and I have a shirt that's coffee free, can we just get started on this stupid project? The sooner we start, the sooner we finish."

"Fine," I mumbled. "But look, Chase," She gave me a look as to say that she didn't want to be called by her last name. I made a mental note to call her that more often. "I was already told by Chiron that we can't switch partners so because we're stuck in this situation, we may as well try to make the best of it."

Annabeth looked like she was actually considering agreeing. However, I didn't know if she was considering agreeing with me or whether or not she could punch me in the gut without spilling her new coffee. She sighed. "Fine, I guess that makes sense."

I nodded and just proceeded to sit back in my desk despite the few coffee drops still on my seat. Annabeth pulled up another desk and gracefully sat down, crossing her legs.

"Okay," I said. "So Chiron said that we should have something picked out by the end of the day. And my guess is that you've already picked something out despite the fact that I want to help."

She raised her cup. "Now _that_ you're right about."

I sighed. "Fine. What are we doing?"

"Are you familiar with _The Odyssey?"_

I scrunched my eyebrows. "That insanely long book that's actually a poem?"

"That's the one."

"No way in hell am I agreeing to that."

Annabeth took a sip and started ruffling through her backpack. "It's not that bad, Jackson. You don't even have to read it."

"Honestly," I muttered. "I don't even know what it's about. I never really did pay attention in English class."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and said, "Is there any class you ever did pay attention in?"

"Yes," I said sharply. "I paid attention and was actually good at Marine Biology in high school. And I'm taking it again this year and so far, it's pretty cool."

"Well, I'm glad you'll be getting at least one C this year."

I glared. My ADHD suddenly acted up and I had a huge urge to punch her, girl or not. "Did you not just agree to at least attempt to get along like forty-five seconds ago?"

"Okay, okay, fine," she said. "But anyways, basically, _The Odyssey_ is about this guy named Odysseus who fights in the Trojan War for ten years then ends up taking another ten year to get home to his family. The whole thing is based off of Greek mythology."

"So, like, monsters and gods and stuff?"

"Well, there's more to it than just that, but yes. That's the basic idea." Annabeth put the book on the table. The book itself was probably as thick as my textbook and the print inside was half the size of any book I've read, or at least attempted to read.

I thought about it, trying to remember covering that unit in high school. I vaguely remembered learning about the twelve Olympians and Odysseus' journey home. The only reason that I even knew _that_ was because this kind of stuff actually struck as an interest to me. Swordfights, slaying monsters, powerful gods—that was my kind of thing.

I shrugged. "Alright. And I don't have to read it?"

"No, Seaweed Brain," she said. "You don't have to read it. And to be honest, I doubt you could finish by the end of the year anyways."

I narrowed my eyes. "'Seaweed Brain?'"

"You said that you like Marine Biology, right?" Annabeth took another sip. "I'm convinced that some kelp got stuck inside your head."

"Wow, that must've taken a long time to think up, Wise Girl." She smirked at her new nickname, knowing it was no better than mine. "And for the record, I bet I could finish that book if I really wanted to."

She laughed. "Maybe, but here's the question: _do_ you want to? Because I highly doubt that you do."

I shrugged. "Yeah, that's true."

She rolled her eyes. "I don't know how you passed high school."

"And I don't know how you got into OU," I said. "I mean, really, there's a bunch of different way that you could have gotten in. Your GPA just seems too obvious. Actually," I put my finger on my lips. "judging by your short skirts and V-necks that I've seen you wear, I'll bet you stripped your way in!"

Annabeth's mouth dropped open and her eyes narrowed. If we weren't shooting daggers at each other before, we were now. "Asshole."

"Bitch."

* * *

**review please. -kenna(:**


	4. The Invitation

**okay so I'm going away for three weeks so I won't have the next chap up for a while so I'm sorry in advance !**

**thanks to all who reviewed last chapter !: RedxxxRobin, waldork, AntiThalico, Helios Spirit, Demigod21, AzianDemigod16, Furry Marshmallows, Arrow of Artemis, LeeMeru, Jetzul, Perabbeth Lover12**

**enjoy !**

* * *

I feel like teachers secretly hope that students will fail.

It's like, the beginning of the year is all easy-peasy with them doing only review work from previous years and just basic new topics. That gives the students a sense of hope, thinking that the class will be easy-peasy all year, so they let their guard down.

But they let it down too soon.

Because as it seems, there's always that one test, project or paper that the teacher throws in once they're sure that everyone has gotten themselves situated and used to a routine that just throws the kids for a loop. At least, that's what I assume. It's that one test or project or paper that looks the students in the eyes and laughs, knowing they weren't prepared. The ending result is a school wide drop in GPA.

Except for one.

"How the hell are you falling behind already?" Annabeth said one day in English. It was mid-November—a later point in the "Let's screw our students over now!" days. By this point, my impressive (to me) three-point-four GPA had dropped almost a full point. Because of the surprisingly easiness of the first part of the year, seeing my grades drop actually disappointed me a little, which totally shocked me because I had never really cared about school until then. I was kind of hoping that I would actually survive the year with decent grades. It would just be something to be proud of. "It's only been like three months."

"Well, I don't know if you've gotten your big head out of the library enough to hear, Wise Girl," I said. "but I'm not the only one who's falling behind right now."

"Yeah, I don't see how this is happening," she snorted. "It's really not that hard."

"Well isn't that just _marvelous _for you," I said, not hiding the annoyance in my voice. I shut the laptop that I was tapping away at. "You know, I've gotten used to your I'm-so-smart-and-perfect attitude, but what if some kid who you've never met—"

"It's _whom_," she interrupted, sounding annoyed that she was actually being called out.

"Whatever. But my point is, what if that kid heard you when you made those kind of comments?"

Annabeth crossed her legs. "What kind of comments?"

"Like how you said you didn't know how people could be struggling in their classes." I didn't realize that my voice was starting to raise until two girls behind Annabeth turned and looked at me. Pink rose to my cheeks as I brought my voice back down. "What if that kid heard you and was struggling in his classes, too? He would probably be offended, right?"

She shrugged. "Maybe. But it wouldn't really matter cause I didn't know him so he wouldn't have any reason to be offended."

"Except that he probably _would_ be because you called anyone who was falling behind stupid."

"He _shouldn't_ be and I did not!"

"He _would _be and you did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

Yeah...it went on like that for a good ten minutes.

I turned and caught Chiron's eye. He was giving me the same look that he always did when Annabeth and I would fight in his class. It was like a glance that said _Work this out. Now._

Luckily, he dismissed us before I had to "work it out." Annabeth looked pretty relieved as well as she shoved her books in her bag and stumbled in her high heels out the door.

"What is _wrong_ with her?" I complained once everyone had left the room. Chiron turned his chair to face me. In just the three months that I had been in his class, Chiron had become more than just my teacher. He was like my long-lost big brother—except much, much wiser. "I'm so sick of this!"

"As is the rest of the class," he said. "But I don't care how many times you ask—I'm not changing your groups."

I had gotten used to this answer. And trust me—I had asked him plenty of times. "I know," I grumbled. "I can only dream."

"Now, Percy, she's your partner in this project. There's no need to insult her."

"I have every reason to insult her," I stated. "She's a bitch."

Chiron raised an eyebrow and I muttered an apology in response. "Have you gotten to know her yet?" he asked.

"Not really," I admitted. "But come on, why would I want to get to know someone who insults me in every other sentence?"

"Hey, from what I've observed, you insult her just as much." He leaned back in his wheelchair. "Something about her being a blonde-haired spoiled brat?"

I ducked my head, thinking back to my shining moment the week before when I had called her that a little loudly for the size of the room.

"Look," he said. "tomorrow is Thanksgiving which means you won't have to see her until Monday. So until then, just take a deep breath and go relax in your dorm. I have to prepare for my next hour anyway."

I nodded. "Okay. See you, Chiron."

"Have a nice break, Mr. Jackson. And, seriously—be thankful for what you have."

"Yeah, okay."

* * *

I was walking by the courtyard when I saw my dad. It was a totally normal day, nothing special besides the fact that it was the day before a long weekend, and "normal" to my dad means kakis and another Hawaiian shirt. He was strutting by the students, giving some high-fives and returning "have a nice Thanksgiving-s." Poseidon was definitely cool with the kids here. And compared to his hard-ass brother Zeus as our principal and grumpy Don't-talk-to-me other brother, Hades, as our Dean, he was even better.

My dad was the kind of guy who understands that kids aren't perfect and, therefore, let's them get away with a lot. I had heard a rumor early that year that my dad even attended one of Luke Castellan's parties, and Luke's parties weren't supposedly just any other college parties; they were blowouts. Like, more like that movie _Project X_. I'm still afraid to ask my dad if that was true.

"Percy!" he called out when he saw me above. See, our courtyard is shaped like a mini coliseum that dips into the ground. The main part of it was a circle about forty feet across and stairs dropped down all around it. But on one part of it, the stairs broke off and larger steps made of brick with flowers and plants in them were there instead. This spot was "The Spot"—the one my dad told me about on the plane.

A flash of unnaturally-perfect blonde hair caught my eye from The Spot. Sitting on the corner of the lowest flower box was Annabeth, smiling and laughing with another darker-haired girl. Some guy was playfully shoving Annabeth from behind and she shoved him back.

"Percy!" my dad called again, walking up to me. "Hey, son. How are you?"

"Not bad," I replied. "You?"

He shrugged. "About the same. Think you've balanced out all your work yet?"

"Not even close," I answered honestly.

He chuckled. "Don't worry, you'll get there. Freshman usually take a little longer to get situated."

I raised an eyebrow. "You say that like I have a chance at making sophomore year," I joked while also a little serious, though he didn't seem to catch it. "Actually, you say that like I'd _want_ to make sophomore year."

Poseidon laughed along with me. "Actually, I needed to tell you something about that."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"Mr. Jackson!" a shrill and all-too familiar voice called.

"Hold that thought, Percy," Poseidon said, even though I wasn't the one who had something to say. "Good afternoon, Annabeth!" he greeted happily. I wanted to throw up.

"Good afternoon," she said. "Will the library be open over break?"

Poseidon tapped his finger on his lips. "I'm not quite sure, but if you would like, I could give you the entrance code, just in case. It would probably be a lot easier."

Annabeth's eyes lit up. "That would be great. Thank you."

"It's 0818. I used Percy's birthday," he stated proudly. He looked back at me and for a split second, I felt great. Sure he had used my birthday for my least favorite building, but at least he had been thinking of me. I smiled in return.

Annabeth did a double take, like she had just realized that I was there. She forced a smile. "Oh, how sweet."

"Well, kids, I've got to go. And Annabeth, don't kill your brain over break."

She laughed. "Oh, don't worry, I won't." _I'm so smart and perfect._ Poseidon left without saying what he was hoping to tell me but I just shrugged it off. Then I turned to Annabeth.

"You're staying here for Thanksgiving?" I asked, chuckling.

She glared. "Yeah. What of it?"

I shrugged. "Just surprised that you have nowhere to go."

"I do _too_ have somewhere to go," she said while stomping her foot like a six year-old. "I just don't want to."

"Oh, _sure_ you don't want to."

"I don't! But I would have a place to go if I really wanted to."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Okay, really?"

I chuckled again, but this time, Annabeth just ducked her head. I stopped laughing. Usually, she would hit me or insult me back. Anything but stare at the ground with an emotionless face. Guilt seemed to hit me in the gut.

"Look," she said. "I have my next class in ten minutes and it's across campus, so I've got to go."

"Wait, Annabeth," I said while grabbing her arm as she turned away. I dropped it when I saw that it made us both uncomfortable. "Do you...Look, do you want to have Thanksgiving with me and my family?"

"My family and I," she correct.

I glared. "Don't correct me when I'm trying to be nice."

Annabeth glanced back at her friends then placed her hands on her perfectly curved hips, sighing. "I mean," I continued. "you and my dad already seem to get along pretty well and, well, you don't have anywhere else to go. And no one should spend Thanksgiving in a library."

She twisted her mouth and looked at me as if to ask _Are you actually being serious right now?_ When I held my stance and what was left of my dignity, she shifted. "Would that be okay with your family?" she asked quietly.

"Sure. And I'm sure you could, you know...stay in the guest room or something, if you want." I couldn't believe I just said that but I didn't let it show on my face. I sincerely felt bad for Annabeth and I was just hoping to help. But what I didn't expect for her was to grin and say:

"Okay. Um, thanks."

My mouth went dry. I nodded. "Err, yeah. No problem." I blinked a couple of times and shifted from foot to foot, trying to get feeling back into my body. I was convinced that I had gone into shock not just because I had asked my wicked blonde-haired English partner to spend the weekend with my family, but also because she said yes.

"Just pack up your stuff and meet us out front tonight. My dad has more connections than even _I_ know of so I bet he can get you a seat on the plane."

"Okay," she answered. "Where do you live, again?"

"New York." I turned away, hoping to escape the uncomfortable feeling, but first I felt like I needed to break it. I added, "So leave your tiny California clothes at home."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and muttered a "Whatever" before returning to her friends and packing up her stuff. I caught myself watching her until she waved good-bye to everyone and took off across the courtyard, stumbling in her heels.

Yeah, high heels were definitely not her thing.

* * *

**review babes . again, I'm going to camp so I'll be back on august 3rd & I'll try to get a chapter up like august 4th . or sometime close to that . anywoo love you all ! -kenna(:**


	5. The Dinner

**hey y'all ! im home ! **

**Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter !: AzianDemigod16, Zoegurl49, Jetzul, alliegirl101, imbetterthanyou238, Anon101, Arrow or Artemis, Tajee165**

* * *

It doesn't matter how much I dislike the girl. It doesn't matter that we had just ignored each other for almost eight hours straight. When my mom came out in her pajamas and robe, took my head in between her hands, and kissed me repeatedly, I wanted to crawl under my bed and stay there.

"Okay, okay, mom," I said, pulling away from her grip. "It's nice to see you too."

Our plane got in at one in the morning, but our taxi got lost on the way to the airport. So I spent an hour and a half throwing paper balls into Annabeth's hair to see if they would stay. Sure, it was immature, but at two AM, I really didn't care. And watching Annabeth get frustrated only made it funnier.

I caught Annabeth's eye and she smirked which only made my cheeks pinker. Then her devilish glance dropped and she turned to meet my mom with a perfect smile.

"Ms. Jackson," she whispered, setting down her suitcase to extend her hand. "It's so nice to meet you. I'm Annabeth."

"Please," my mom said while shaking her hand. "Call me Sally."

I didn't know my mom and Wise Girl could get onto a first-name-basis so quickly. I rolled my eyes to myself and dragged my luggage inside. I glanced back hoping to catch a look at Annabeth trying to pull her stuff in the door, but unfortunately, Poseidon took it for her.

"Okay, so, um," my mom whispered when we were all inside. "From what I understand, Poseidon, you're taking the guest room, Annabeth will have Percy's room, and Percy, you'll sleep on the couch?"

My mouth went dry and I probably did a double-take. "Wait," I said. "Dad, I thought you had a hotel?"

He shrugged. "Got cancelled. I told you this on the plane."

I mumbled something like "Oh yeah" when the truth was that I had no idea what he was talking about. I was just so used to tuning him out on planes that I could do it without even trying now. "And besides," Poseidon continued. "you want to show your gentleman side, don't you?"

"Yeah, Seaweed Brain, don't you?" Annabeth muttered to me under her breath. I gave her a look.

"Fine," I said. "I'm out numbered anyways."

"Yeah, son," Poseidon said. "the faster you learn that, as a man, you never win, the happier you will be."

My mom playfully hit Poseidon and smiled. "Okay, that's enough. Bed time for everyone."

Poseidon made his way into the third bedroom of our apartment while my mom went back to the master room where I could hear Paul's faint snoring. Annabeth just picked up her own suitcase and whispered, "Your parents like me more than you" in a sing-song voice.

"Oh, shut up," I responded and followed her into my room. "Oh, and if you girl up my room, I'll kill you."

"Aww," she said, throwing me a pillow and a blanket off of my bed. "So I can't leave my underwear in your bathroom?"

I shivered. "No."

She shrugged and pulled her suitcase onto my bed. "I would think that any guy would love to say that a girl left her bra in his room."

"Not yours, thank you."

"Okay," she said. "Then I'll be sure to do that!"

I rolled my eyes. "You know, I didn't _have_ to be nice and invite you to come to New York and have Thanksgiving dinner with my family _for free_."

This seemed to shut her up. She sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry."

I blinked. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

She rolled her eyes and looked like she was fighting a smile. "You're right," she repeated.

I smiled. "Wait, one more time."

Annabeth grabbed another pillow and threw it as hard as she could at my head. "Goodnight, Seaweed Brain."

I chuckled. "Goodnight, Wise Girl." I threw the pillow back to her then shut the door.

I got as comfortable on the couch as I could and pulled the covers over me, just waiting for this nightmare-ish weekend to be over.

* * *

My mom woke me up. "Um, Percy?" she whispered. "I know you had a long night but would you mind helping me with the casserole?"

The clock on the wall read half past ten and yet no one else was awake besides my mom and I. The familiar smells of Thanksgiving were starting to fill the house. My mom was always one to start a bit early.

"I guess," I mumbled as I rolled off the couch. I was still wearing the same clothes that I was from the day before except they suddenly were a lot less comfortable. "Err, I'm going to shower first."

"That's fine but make sure you stay quiet so you don't wake Annabeth up." My mom turned back to her cook book. _Oh, right,_ I remembered. _Wise Girl is here._

I nodded then made my way to my room and slipped inside. Annabeth was still sound asleep in my bed. Her limbs were all spread out in different directions and a slight trickle of drool was falling down her face. I chuckled to myself and shook my head.

As I was turning to grab some clothes from my suitcase my foot caught my dresser and I fell. "Ow," I whispered to myself. I rubbed my aching toes.

"Um, hey," a raspy voice said. I looked up to see Annabeth propped up on her elbows and looking at me.

"Err, hey," I said, "What's up?"

"Not you," she replied. "You're so clumsy, Seaweed Brain."

"You're not much better." I stood up and grabbed my clothes. "I saw you stumbling in your heels yesterday."

"I'd like to see _you_ walk in heels without stumbling. It's not as easy as it looks." Annabeth pulled the covers off of her and my cheeks darkened. All she was wearing was short shorts and a sports bra. I mean, sure, I've seen girls in stuff like that before but seeing Annabeth was weird. I had never really thought about Annabeth physically past her hundred dollar shirts and tight skirts. That was all I really needed to think about because the "rich preppy" kind of girl was never my type. And Annabeth's personality didn't help her clothing.

I took one last peek at her perfect, tan body just to get it out of my system then continued to my bathroom. "I'm taking a shower," I muttered. "And turn off the bitchiness when you're around my family, okay?"

"Whatever," she said. I was halfway in the door when she called again. "Oh, and Percy? If you're going to peek at me, make it less obvious, because now I get to add 'perverted' to the list of things about you." I shut the door before she could say anything else.

Showering and putting on fresh clothes was actually exactly what I needed. It was a relief from Annabeth, from the stress of college, and just from being away from home in general. I didn't realize just home much I missed being home until I stepped out of the shower to hear my mom laughing and smelled something burning.

I learned something new about Annabeth in the course of the following six hours: she can't cook for shit. Along with the casserole, Annabeth and my mom burned three dishes, forgot to add the eggs in the rolls, and went through three different shirts. When dinner was finally served, they both looked exhausted.

"Okay, so rule about tonight," my mom announced as we lined up with our plates. "If you don't like the food, lie." Some chuckles filled the room, but the look in my mother's eyes said that she wasn't kidding. I really had never seen my mom slave over a dinner so intensely. I guess the idea that she had to make a perfect feast for her college-aged son, current husband, ex-husband, and a random girl whom she had never met before really got to her. She also had Annabeth trying to help with everything which, obviously, didn't help anything.

I got my food last and mentally groaned when I saw that the last open seat was right next to Annabeth. Surprisingly, however, she had been good about ignoring me so far today beside the occasional exchange of glares when we would run into each other or something, so I wiped all expressions off of my face and awkwardly took a seat. We said grace and then my dad dug right into his blue mashed potatoes like they were his life line. My mom has this thing with making as many foods as she can blue. It's her way of saying that anything is possible. She's always been into cheesy life-lessons like that.

"Poseidon," my mom said. "Before you choke, I want everyone to say one thing that they're thankful for." I groaned but everyone else just seemed to accept it. I glanced over to Annabeth and she even looked...happy.

"I'll even go first," my mom said. "I'm thankful that two of my favorite men in the world made it home safely," she paused to smile at my dad and I. "and also that they brought back such a fun cooking partner." My mom and Annabeth laughed together and Annabeth even shook her head.

"What a nightmare," she said, still laughing.

My mom agreed as Paul started. "I'm thankful for my family and that I don't have to work today."

"Amen," my dad agreed. "I'm actually going to turn that one around as well and say that I'm thankful for a job where I get to interact with the best and smartest kids in the country." He gave Annabeth a smile who ducked her head and blushed. _Oh, give me a break. _"And now I'm thankful that my own son is one of them."

Poseidon put his hand on my shoulder and gave me a look of pride. I awkwardly gave a smile back, not liking all the attention on me. Annabeth caught my eye and her eyes looked the same as they did the first time we met—clouded and annoyed. I shot her back a look and smirked just for good measure.

"Aww, isn't that sweet?" my mom cooed to Poseidon. "Your turn Perce."

"Err, okay," I said, not really sure what to say. "I'm thankful for my mom's cooking." I got a couple laughs from that. Annabeth rolled her eyes so only I could see.

My mom smiled. "Good answer." She laughed. "But you know, Annabeth helped too."

"Yeah, I know."

She cocked her head. "So don't you want to say thank you to her as well?"

I turned towards Annabeth and this time, _she_ had the sassy smirk on her face. She was just waiting. "Thank you, Annabeth," I grumbled.

Annabeth's smirk and probably her ego grew. "You're very welcome, Perseus," she said in a voice that would sound genuine to anyone that didn't know our unique relationship. To me it sounded sarcastic and full of pride. Bad pride.

My dad smiled. "So what are you thankful for, Annabeth?"

She twisted her mouth. "I am thankful for..." she started slowly with the same look that she always gets when she thinks. "I guess I'm just thankful for a nice place to be on Thanksgiving."

The adults 'aww'ed and I heard a 'We're happy to have you' from Paul. Once they got into their own conversation, I leaned over to Annabeth and whispered, "Do not."

She kicked me as hard as she could in the shin without making it obvious. And I'll admit that it hurt. A lot.

"Ouch. Bitch."

"You asked for it, Asshole."

For the rest of dinner, I was just glad that my parents and Paul didn't have much to say to us because we were too busy using eye murder on each other.

Sure, Annabeth probably could be a good person if she didn't insult me. And if she didn't physically hurt me. And over all just act not as bitchy. We probably could be friends too if it wasn't as much fun as it is to get under her skin.

"Here, Annabeth, let me get that for you," I said in that same sarcastic-only-to-us tone. Annabeth looked back down at her empty plate then back to me.

"No, thanks," she said half-bitterly. "I can get it myself."

"Oh, but you shouldn't have to," I said. "And I want to show my 'gentleman side,' remember? So, please, let me take your plate."

My dad smiled and scoffed to himself. Annabeth learned how to glare and smile sweetly at the same time. "Good point. Thank you so much, Perseus."

I smiled just as sweetly. "You are so welcome, Annabeth."

Annabeth pulled away from the table and stood up. "Thank you for letting me eat dinner with you all," she said, obviously talking to everyone but me. "It's was great."

"Of course, sweetie," my mom said. "And you feel free to come back anytime."

_Oh, barf. Please, no._

Annabeth nodded then left the kitchen, heading towards my room. I cleaned off our dishes then followed her.

"Nice acting back there," I said to her when we were alone.

She rolled her eyes. "Believe it or not, Seaweed Brain, I wasn't acting. Your family is nice and I'm a guest here so obviously I wanted to be as nice as possible. Which, you know, come to think of it, it doesn't make much sense that you could have such a great family but then turn out to be such an idiot."

"You know what, Annabeth?" I said, careful not to raise my voice too high. "I didn't _have_ to invite you here. I didn't _have _to swallow my pride and give you a place to stay, but, once again, _I did._ And I'm really sick of having to pretend that we're friends for my parents, but I'm sucking it up."

"Well, what did you expect Percy?" she said. "Did you think that just because you let me stay at your house that we would become best friends and live happily ever after?"

"Well, no, but—"

"Oh, and for the record, Jackson, I'm sucking it up just as much as you are."

This actually took me back. "Are you kidding me? The kick under the table and the snappy attitude in front of my parents say differently."

"Well, you don't seem to be holding back in front of them either, Jackson! What with the bitch comment and mocking your own dad about being a gentleman; which, for the record, you definitely aren't. But I wouldn't expect anything less from a kid who can't read."

My stomach dropped and my throat clenched. "You're just lucky I had enough mercy on you to give you a place to go on Thanksgiving!" I grabbed a sweatshirt from my suitcase. "You don't seem like you're very used to being around people who love you, which I'm not surprised about."

Annabeth's breath caught in her throat and she crossed her arms. I realized that my comment was a little much, but she hit me where it hurt too. She knows it hurts when she talks about my dyslexia like I'm dumb because of it. The silence lasted too long for my liking. "Get out," she whispered.

I opened the door. "Way ahead of you."

* * *

**review babies . **


	6. The Roommate

**hey guys ! sorry about not updating, i have trouble with it during the school year .. but here you go ! chapter 6 : the roommate (:**

**thanks to all who reviewed last chapter !: AzianDemigod16, alliegirl101, Stalker, Trident449, QDW, Jetzul, achillesheel02, envelope123, Lauren1996007, Arrow or Artemis, Mini Jackson, yanksrock615, kathy, Zoegurl49, Guest, cathy**

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* * *

"Oh, my God, Nico. What did I do?"

"You told Blondie the truth." Somehow, that didn't make me feel any better.

The day after Thanksgiving was quiet. The plane ride back to OU was quiet. The campus over the weekend was quiet, and not just because we came back a day before most people.

When I was in the moment when Annabeth and I were having our little quarrel, everything was word vomit. I only said everything that I did because she would insult me back, and when she told me that I was just a dumb kid who couldn't read, I couldn't help myself.

What I didn't expect to happen was to tell Annabeth straight up that I wasn't surprised that she's not used to being around people who loved her. Again, at the time, everything was word vomit and I was only saying things out of anger. But now, having thought about what I said, I realized that it wasn't only bad that I insulted her about something that I have no actual knowledge about, but also because I like to think of myself as a nice guy and so throwing that comment at her showed that I stooped to a level probably even lower than herself.

"And now I have to go work on this dumb project with her for an hour and a half," I complained. Nico yawned. He didn't have classes until noon on Mondays so he wasn't too happy when I woke him up this morning with my complaints.

"Why don't you just skip?" Nico muttered, already getting himself comfortable again. "Honestly, Perce. If you don't want to see her, then don't go to the one place where you _have _to see her. This isn't rocket science."

I blinked. I made a mental note not to mess with Nico before ten as I grabbed my key and left, leaving my backpack behind.

* * *

I've never really been a skipper. People just would assume that I was if they looked at my grades, but I really wasn't. Tardy, sure, but I didn't skip.

For those of you who have never skipped, let me give you some advice: don't. Not because it's wrong or because you might get caught or whatever, but because it's boring as hell.

I walked around campus for about a half hour doing nothing but people watching. I grabbed some breakfast from the café and did some more people-watching but quickly gave up when my ADHD told me it was time to do something productive.

I walked to the center of campus where the courtyard sat. A couple students were walking around but none were sitting at The Spot. I took my chances and made my way over. It started to sprinkle so I pulled on my jacket and sat down.

I don't really know what I was expecting. It just seemed like sitting there would be more...exciting? The talk from the last three months that I've heard about it made it sound like you'd gain super powers if you had the opportunity to sit in The Spot. To me, there was nothing very special about it. In fact, I found my usual metal benches around campus to be much comfier.

"Hey."

At the top of the steps next to The Spot, the same dark-haired girl who was sitting and laughing next to Annabeth a week before was leaning against the railing. A puff of warm air came from her lips into the soon-to-come winter air. She was, like me, wrapped in a jacket but a backpack was thrown over her shoulder.

"Um, hey," I mumbled.

"Jackson, right?" She made her way down the steps and dropped her backpack on the ground next to my feet then crossed her arms, not bothering to take a seat.

I nodded. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

She snickered then shook her head. "You know, Jackson, you've been going here for, what, three months now? Do you really still not realize that people know who you are?"

I raised my eyebrows and shrugged. "I guess I just don't get how people know me if I haven't met them ever."

She lifted one foot up and rested it on the ledge top. "Well, there _is _the fact that your dad is the dean here, smartie."

"Yeah, but still," I said. "What would people have to say about me if they don't know me?"

"It's called gossip, dipshit," she said. "Welcome to OU."

A cold breeze blew which made both myself and the dark-haired girl shiver. I started digging in my backpack for a hat. "The highest school in the country still gossips?" I said. "I'm shocked. I would think they wouldn't have time for such nonsense."

"Your sarcasm is noted, Jackson," Dark Hair said with a little edge in her voice. "But, yes, just like any other college, we gossip, procrastinate on homework, throw illegal parties, and, if you're lucky, you can meet asshole guys such as yourself."

I scrunched my eyes wondering what I ever did to her, then I remembered how I even recognized her—she's Annabeth's friend. I slouched and resisted the urge to sink my head in regret. I shouldn't regret saying it anyway. Annabeth said something just as hurtful to me, right? That makes us even. My mind flashed back to the coffee incident and I sat up a little straighter.

However, I couldn't resist the urge to ask, "Have you seen her recently? Annabeth, I mean."

"Yeah, and she wanted me to pass on something."

"Okay. What?"

I wouldn't doubt that Dark Hair indented my head from how hard she slapped my cheek. For all I knew, she could have punched me.

I held the side of my face that I'm sure was very red. "Ow," I muttered.

"I'm Thalia Grace, by the way," she introduced. "Annabeth's roommate."

I moved my jaw around in circles, almost having to fight back tears from the lingering sting. "You're her roommate?"

She rolled her eyes. "Annabeth was right: you _are_ a seaweed brain." Thalia moved her foot then sat down next to me. She opened her backpack and grabbed a water bottle from inside then handed it to me; most of it was ice. "Here, take this. Don't worry, I'm not a bitch all the time."

I accepted the water bottle without a thank-you and pressed it against my cheek. "Is she... you know, okay?" I asked.

"She'll be fine. She's a strong girl. Actually, from what she told me, she's regretting what she said too. She was going to apologize to you in class today but..." She gestured towards me, seeing that I obviously didn't go to class.

I shrugged back at her. "I wasn't really in the mood to be insulted again. And I definitely didn't want to deal with her bitchy attitude."

Thalia gave me a look. "Annabeth is _not_ a bitch. But right now, you kind of are."

"Well she's a bitch to me, Grace!" I said. "And I don't even know why."

"Maybe it's because you're kind of an ass." Thalia examined her fingernails.

"Thanks. But I doubt that's it because she hated me before she even knew me."

"And you insulted her before you even got to know her," she stated, looking me in the eyes. "Maybe you guys just need to get to know each other a little more. You're stuck working on that project together for the rest of the year and I doubt either of you will come out with some sort of self-esteem if you don't stop shooting each other insults."

Chiron's advise popped back into my head and I sighed. "Fine. I'll try. But what are the chances that she'll be cooperative?"

She chuckled. "Pretty small I'd say. She probably wants to get to know you just as much as you want to get to know her."

I laughed with her and stood up. "So, uh, what should I do?"

"Get to class, Jackson!" she said with a smirk. "There's still, like, forty minutes left. That's enough time to get her in bed, right?"

From her gut-busting laugh, I'm sure my expression was a mix of disgust and confusion, and even though I couldn't stand the thought of doing... _anything_ with the blondie, my cheeks still started to burn—and it wasn't because of Thalia's slap. "Relax, Jackson. I'm kidding."

Still slightly embarrassed, I turned and started for the stairs. I was halfway up then stopped when I heard Thalia giggle. "What?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Nothing. Just..." She paused and laughed again. "You guys just aren't good for each other at all."

I let out a breath. "Oh, believe me, I know."

* * *

I probably looked ridiculous walking into class with my hair half damp from the rain that started up and no backpack but I didn't care, and Chiron didn't seem to care either. He noticed me walk in, took once glance at Annabeth sitting in the corner alone, then jerked his head in her direction as if to say, "What are you waiting for, Mr. Jackson?"

I shrugged off my jacket and threw it over my desk chair as I climbed the steps to where Annabeth was sitting in the back. She was sitting in front of an old desktop computer but she didn't seem as focused on what was on the screen as she was on the rain outside. Her grey eyes were dark and she looked lost in thought.

I shoved her.

She nearly screamed and jumped out of her chair. Something about the way she glared at me told me that she wasn't happy with me right then. "Holy shit, Seaweed Brain," she said. "Don't do that to me!" She pressed her hand over her heart and her face was white.

I chucked, not knowing that she was that easily scare-able. "Sorry. It was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up."

She didn't respond and instead met my eyes with a half-glare. Then she resumed her place in the chair and got back to whatever she was doing. It was quiet while she was typing and I was just standing behind her. I didn't know what to say. On my way here, I thought I had the conversation all planned out: I would ask her how she was, apologize for what I said then she'd apologize as well and bring out a big apology cookie. You know, more or less.

But now that I was here after three long days of thinking and not talking to her, I choked up.

"So were you ditching, Jackson?" Annabeth said, still facing the screen.

"Um...It was Nico's idea," I mumbled. Annabeth snickered and shook her head. "What?"

"Nothing," she said.

There was a silence again as she started typing away. I tried again. "What are you doing?"

"The project."

"Are you only going to give me one word answers?"

"Well technically, Seaweed Brain, that answer was two words if you can count."

"Okay, lay off, Annabeth!" I said while moving in her line of vision. "I'm trying to apologize here! I don't need you insulting my intelligence again."

Annabeth looked at me then leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed. "Go ahead."

"Don't get a big head now," I said. "You have just as much to apologize for."

"At least I said it out of anger!" Her eyes glazed over. "You didn't seem to care about me at all!"

"What, you don't think I said mine out of anger too?" Annabeth considered this and kept quite. "I would never have said that if I wasn't mad. I was...I don't know, hurt."

Annabeth seemed to let that sink in. If I didn't know any better, I would've described her as looking guilty. I broke the silence. "Why did you say... _it_ in the first place?" I asked quietly.

She shrugged. "I told you, I was mad."

"But you didn't have much to be mad about," I said. "I mean, we were pretty good for the rest of the day but then you got me alone after dinner and...that came out."

She scrunched her eyebrows. "Hey, this wasn't all on me."

"No, it wasn't," I agreed. "but at least I said mine after you said yours. I didn't _want_ to say it..."

"But you said it anyway?" she mumbled.

"Oh, shut up, you would have done the same thing," I said. "You're not the only one who likes to get even."

Just for a second, I saw Annabeth crack a smile. "You're right."

I smirked back. "Always am." Annabeth rolled her eyes and turned back to the screen, but before she could get completely lost back in her work, I touched her arm. "Hey, I really am sorry, Wise Girl."

Annabeth could tell I was being honest. At first, she looked a little confused, like she wasn't expecting it, and I don't blame her—I don't think I was expecting it either. Then the lightning clouds that I usually see in her eyes started to fade, and her eyes brightened. She even smiled a little bit. "Apology accepted, and I'm sorry too."

"It's okay." We stayed like that for longer than either of us realized, my hand still resting on her wrist, though she made no effort to make me move.

Suddenly, Annabeth's gaze broke from mine and she stood up. "So, uh, isn't this the time in movies that we're supposed to hug or something?"

"Well," I said. "see there's a difference between movies and us: the people in the movies like each other."

She gave me a look. "You couldn't be nice longer than that, could you?" It was more of a statement than a question, so I just shrugged. She rolled her eyes again and looked like she wanted to stomp her foot. Now _that_ would make us part of a movie. "You're impossible, Seaweed Brain."

I smirked and crossed my arms. "Get used to it, Blondie."

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**k you guys know what to do ! review review review ! that rhymed .. hehe -kenna(:**


	7. The Choice

**to all my US fans, hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving ! don't get trampled today. I'm going to the mall of america later sooo if I don't update again, you'll know what happened o_O**

**to all my fans who don't celebrate Thanksgiving, hope you had a fabulous day in general !(:**

**thanks to all who reviewed last chapter!: waldork, Tajee165, Guest, AzianDemigod16, DifferentKindOfAsian, me, envelope123, Alexandra Nightshade, Arrow of Artemis, yanksrock615, Menna Nasser, anon101, pepperose**

**mmk so this chapter got a little long so sorry . hope you like it anyways (: enjoy!**

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Being around Annabeth so much must have rubbed off on me because when our first trimester finals rolled around, I actually studied. You know, a little bit.

Secretly, I was hoping to do really bad on my first finals at OU so I could show my dad that I still wasn't cut out for this college and he'd let me go home, or at least choose my own school.

However, when I was sitting in my dorm the night before two of my classes' tests, I brought out the texts books and actually review. It wasn't intense studying like I knew Annabeth was doing considering that whole week she would show up in English with her hair just slightly out of place, like she woke up late and did what she could with it. I did, however, go over the stuff I didn't know and tried to understand what I could. I even asked Nico for help a couple times. Sure, he wasn't a big help, but I think it was the mental effort that counted.

Unfortunately, all four tests I would walk into very confident and leave with my head hanging. Even my Marine Biology test was impossible and I thought I had that down.

Luckily, hard finals comes with a reward: winter break. Ours lasted five weeks so I used that glorious time to fly back to my mom's again. When I got there, she acted like that was the first time I had come home even though I had just been there for Thanksgiving two weeks before. But of course, she grabbed my face anyways and planted a million kisses on my cheeks. Without anyone there to see it, I let her.

Being away from my mom was weird. It wasn't so much that I needed her—because I can _so_ take care of myself—but more that I just missed her being around. I missed her positive, look-on-the-bright-side comments and all her blue foods. I missed her hugging me goodbye even if I was just going to the store. I missed her beautiful smile when someone other than her would offer to cook; just those kinds of things.

One thing I didn't miss though were her questions.

"That Annabeth girl is really nice, don't you think?" she asked one morning out of the blue.

I was flipping through channels on the couch and twitched. "Huh? Oh, yeah, sure."

"You should have asked her to come visit over break." She started the coffee maker. "I would have loved to see her."

"Yeah, okay."

"How did you two meet, again?"

"English project."

"I hear she's an excellent student."

"Yup."

"Well that's nice." The coffee maker beeped and my mom grabbed two mugs. "Do you like her?"

I was thankful that I was already sitting down because if I wasn't, I probably would have feinted. "_What?"_

"I asked if you liked—"

"No, no, I know what you said," I said, cutting her off. "I just mean, well, why would you think that?"

My mom got a smug look on her face and pulled her hair back. "Well, she's smart, nice, _extremely _gorgeous, and I'm sure you guys see a lot of each other from this English project. Also, you wouldn't just invite any girl to your house across the country for Thanksgiving just because."

_She is _not_ nice by any stretch_, I wanted to say, but I held my tongue. My mom didn't need to know everything about my life. The thing that turned my stomach though is that was the only flaw I could find in my mom's statement. Annabeth _was_ smart—really smart—and, as long as I ignored her voice, she was hotter than Hell. We did see a lot of each other which makes tolerating her a little easier every day. Sure, we have our moments that make tolerating her much, _much_ harder, but those fights aren't everyday anymore. They're not even every week.

Lastly, my stomach did one final loop when I realized that my mom was right: I had to have some form of likeness for Annabeth to invite her over to my house for three days. If I only hated her and had no other feelings, I wouldn't have thought twice about her staying at OU over Thanksgiving—I would have made some comment about her needing to read a cook book over break to make herself a turkey then been on my way.

"I don't like her, Mom," I said.

She shrugged. "That's fine. But just remember:" She walked over and handed me a mug with the hot coffee and steam poured out of the top. "Mom always knows best, and Annabeth is a good one."

"Thanks, Mom," I mumbled. "I'll, uh, keep that in mind."

My mom kissed the top of my head just as the phone rang. I turned back to the TV while she went to go answer it. "Hello?" she said.

I couldn't find anything good on live TV, so I switched over to our recorded stuff. "Annabeth!" my mom shouted. I spun my head towards her and my eyes widened. "Dear, how are you? How's your break?"

Seeing that my mom was about to have an hour long conversation with Wise Girl, I got up and held out my hand for the phone. My mom waved me away. "That's great, dear. Did finals go well for you?"

I held my hand out again with a little more eagerness this time, but again, my mom ignored me. "Good for you! I hear you're a star student anyways so I'm not surprised."

"Mom," I said. "Come on."

My mom rolled her eyes. "Annabeth, would you like to talk to Percy? Because he really seems like he wants to talk to you."

I widened my eyes and my cheeks started to burn. "Mom!"

She laughed at my expression then handed over the phone. "That's what you get, honey."

With my cheeks still red, I went to my room. After my door was shut and locked behind me, I brought the phone to my ear. "Hey, Wise Girl."

I heard her laugh on the other end. "Little eager there to talk to me, Seaweed Brain? What, do you miss me?"

"No," I said. "I just didn't want my mom to get into her 'conversation' mode. She wouldn't have stopped until you told her your life story."

She laughed again. "Oh, _sure."_

I shook my head. "So what exactly is your reason for calling my house over winter break?" I gasped. "Did _you_ miss _me_?" Even if she couldn't see it, I dramatically put a hand over my heart.

I could just see her rolling her eyes as she said, "No," she said. "I just needed some help on the project."

"You need help? Now?" I asked. "Why now?"

"Because I'm working on it now, Seaweed Brain. Why else?"

"No, shit, Wise Girl. I meant why are working on it over winter break? They're called 'breaks' for a reason."

"Well, we didn't do anything the week of finals so I'm just catching up."

I kicked some clothes out of my way. "Oh, _phew!_ I was so worried we wouldn't get back on track. I mean, we only have, what, five more months?"

"Oh, shut up," she said. "Will you help me or not?"

"No because you shouldn't be working on it anyways," I said. "Come on, Annabeth, there are better things to do than an English project over winter break."

I heard her sigh. "I know," she said. "but to be totally honest, I just don't have much else to do." She let out one laugh.

I raised an eyebrow. "What about shopping?"

"I hate shopping."

"Really?" I asked. "With all the clothes you have, it doesn't seem like you hate it."

"I can have nice clothes and still hate shopping, Seaweed Brain."

"Well sorry that I don't know the rules of shopping." She giggled. "What about TV?"

"Nothing good on."

"I hear you. What about hanging out with friends?"

"Most either go to OU and don't live here or are away at their own school."

I really didn't seem to be winning here. I lied down on my bed. "What about your family?"

There was a pause, then she said, "What about them?"

"Well, what are they up to?"

Another pause, and this one actually concerned me. It was that specific length that was too long for her to be just thinking—it was more like she specifically wasn't telling me something.

"Annabeth?" I said when she didn't respond.

"Yeah?"

"I, uh, asked you a question."

"Right," she said. "Well, uh, they're not home."

I sat up. "Oh, where are they?"

"Out," she said. "My dad is working and my brothers are in school."

"What about your mom?"

"Um..." There was rustling on the other side, like she was walking somewhere. I heard the sound of a door shutting then the phone being brought back up to her ear. "My mom isn't around."

"Yeah, that's what you just said. I meant like where is she—"

"I mean she's not around _anymore_, Seaweed Brain." My mouth went dry. "She left my dad when I was really little and...I-I haven't seen her since."

I let her have a moment, and to be honest, I needed one myself. I hunched over and ran my fingers through my hair. "Oh my, God, Annabeth, I am so sorry. I-I didn't know."

"S'okay," she said. "I'm over it. She left early enough that sometimes, I don't even think I can remember her. Plus, my dad re-married when I was five so my step-mom has kind of been my replacement mom. It's better this way."

Something about the way she said that made me bite my lip. She had too steady of a voice. It was like she was trying to tell herself more than she was trying to tell me. "Oh, well I guess that's good."

I could just picture her with her eyebrows knitted together and her signature far-away stare. She always did look cute when she was thinking. "Yeah, I guess," she said.

I felt like I needed to lighten the mood to hopefully cheer her up so I said, "Well, Wise Girl, you've got a lot of catching up to do on our project, don't you?"

She huffed. "Glad you sound like you really want to help, Seaweed Brain."

"I'm ecstatic. But seriously, Annabeth, we go back in less than a week. Just use the last couple days to relax and stuff, and I promise we'll get back to work as soon as we get back to OU, okay?"

With a smile in her voice, she said, "Alright, I'll do my best."

"That's my girl."

"What?"

I choked up. "I, err, I said 'sounds good.'"

"Oh. Well, okay. Bye, Seaweed Brain."

"See you, Wise Girl."

"Oh, and Percy?" she quickly said before I hit 'end.' "Try reading something before we go back. I don't want you to become illiterate again." I smirked and the line clicked off.

As soon as I put the phone down, guilt hit me in the gut like a cannonball. I had known her for over four months and I had never even asked her what her life back in San Francisco was like. That should have been, like, number one on my list when I decided that getting to know the wicked girl that I was being forced to work with was actually not a bad idea. Another thing that hit me was the fact that she actually decided to tell me. By itself, that was pretty personal, so telling it to _me_ was...I don't know, confusing.

The guilt that hit me followed me around for the rest of that week, to the airport, across the jet stream to Seattle, and onto the campus of OU. I knew that Nico got there before me because his stuff was already back in our room. Just as I threw all my own bags on my bed, Nico popped his head in. "Hey, Perce."

I smiled. "Hey, man. How was your break?"

"Good, good. But, man, I'll tell you more about it later. Your dad wanted me to come get you 'cause he wants to talk to you."

"Oh, do you know what for?"

"Nah," he said, lugging in another bag. "but it's probably just welcoming you back or something."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Probably."

* * *

Over the break, OU had received three feet of snow and some pretty harsh wind-chills to top it off, so closing the door behind me after nearly running to the main administration building was a relief.

"Percy, my boy!" my dad greeted me as soon as I walked in. He had a cup of coffee in his hands and looked like he had just been chatting with our receptionist.

"Hey, dad," I said back, embracing him in a hug. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm great, great, great!" I couldn't tell if my dad was trying to hide something or if he had just had too much coffee.

"You, uh, wanted to see me?" I asked.

"Yes, I did!" he said. Then he turned back to the receptionist. "Laura, can you print out my schedule for the day, please?"

"Yes, sir," she said. Then she turned to her computer and started typing away.

"Great! Percy, why don't we go into my office? It's warmer in there."

I peeled off my coat, all ready a little warm, but I agreed anyways. I followed him down the hall and up two flights of stairs into his office where I realized that it really _was_ warmer in there. Floor to ceiling windows lined one wall and bookshelves lined another. His desk was 'L' shaped so he could look over the campus if he wanted to but also look in the faces of students in trouble when they sat on chairs that were at the base of his desk. The middle of the room was taken up by two couches and a coffee table with a fur rug underneath it. But none of this was the reason for the warmer temperature—a full stone fireplace cut into the middle of the back wall.

"That new?" I asked pointing at the structure.

"Yup," he said proudly. "Just got it built over the break. At first they said I couldn't do it because I'm not on the top floor, but I made them anyways."

I chuckled and shook my head. "But enough about that," he continued, taking a seat on one couch. He kicked his feet up. "Make yourself at home, my boy."

I took the other couch. "So, what's up, Dad?"

"Well," he said. "remember before Thanksgiving when I was going to tell you something, but then forgot and never got back to it?"

Being that he was talking about something that happened six weeks ago, I honestly didn't. But I pretended that I did anyways. "Sure, Dad. Did you remember what it was?"

"Actually, yes." His face got a little less playful. "During the first trimester of the year, I was keeping up on how you were doing—making sure this was still a good idea and all. At that point, I was going to let you know how your base trimester grade were so you would know how you would need to do on the finals to keep a good overall GPA."

The ends of my lips started to curl up. "Yeah, and?"

"Well, Percy, to be honest, I'm not very impressed." He took his feet off the table and leaned forward.

My spirit actually fell a little bit. Sure, half of me wanted this but the other half had actually started getting into making my parents proud by succeeding in this school. I tried to shake that off, guessing that he was about to tell me that I wouldn't be coming back for this trimester. "That bad, huh?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Actually, no. You got two A's, a B, and a C minus."

"Oh," I replied. "Then why aren't you impressed?"

"I _was_, but those were your grades _before _finals." He twisted his mouth. Looking at him now, it was a lot easier to see why he's OU's vice principal. Before when I looked at him, I only saw him as my fun-loving tacky-shirt-wearing dad. Now, with a crease in between his eyebrows and his hands folded, it felt just like any other time that I was sent to the principal's office.

I sucked in a breath. "Okay. What did they come out as?"

"A minus, B plus, C, and pretty much on the dot in between a D and a D minus."

"Ouch," I said. "I guess I didn't realize how much effect these things actually had." I tried laughing to lighten the mood but he didn't join in.

"Percy, this is serious," he stated. I stopped smiling. "The first three are fine, but the D-slash-D minus that you got in Calculus isn't. You're better than that, son."

"Wait, weren't you even the one who said that I 'frankly wasn't smart enough' for this school in the first place?" I asked. The side of me that wanted to make them proud was overpowering the other side. I actually got mad that my dad even told me straight up that he didn't think I would be able to do it. Why shouldn't I be able to? I'm not the dumb, dyslexic boy that people like Annabeth treat me like.

"Yes, but of course that was before you actually decided to come—"

"Okay, I didn't 'decide' anything," I cut in. "You forced me to come here, remember?"

"Yes, yes, Percy. And of course I'm sorry for being so harsh on you, but I was trying to help."

I stood up. "Oh, yeah, real big help, Dad. If you didn't think I could actually go here without humiliating myself and flunking out, then why did I even come?"

"Because, Percy," he said just as harshly. "I wanted to help. You weren't doing anything with your life so I thought this might be good for you. Just something to make you realize that life won't be a smooth sailing anymore. But now, my boy, you _do_ get a choice."

"Yeah?" I said. "What choice would that be?"

There was a knock on the door. My dad ignored it and kept his stare on me. "You can quit this life, go live with Sally again and figure out what you want to do for yourself from there," He paused. I hadn't even realize that I had curled my hands into fists until my nails started digging into my skin. "Or you can find a way to get your grade up. But if you choose option two and the grade doesn't turn into at least a B minus by the end of this trimester, I get to choose for you."

I kicked the coffee table out of my way and pushed the door open, forgetting that someone had knocked earlier.

"Ow," she mumbled, rubbing her hand that she used to try and stop the door. Her grey eyes were filled with annoyance.

"Sorry," I mumbled while still pushing past her, not wanting to hear any bitchy comment that she was about to throw my way.

"Hold on," Annabeth said, grabbing my arm. All the annoyance in her expression was gone. "Are you okay?"

"Just dandy," I said. "I'll see you in English." Then I pulled out of her grasp and left.

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**let me know how i did by clicking the 'review' button below (: happy holidays everyone ! -kenna(:**


	8. The Tutor

**Christmas isn't just a holiday: it's the time of the year for love, joy, being thankful for family, friends and everything God has blessed us with. I would sincerely like to wish all my amazing fans a very merry Christmas. I am very thankful for each and every one of you. If you don't celebrate Christmas, I still love you very much! I wish you happy holidays and an amazing New Year.**

**I also want to tell every one of you that I'm always here if you need me. Always. Don't think that no one cares because I do and always will; it doesn't matter if you know me or not. Please take a second look before ending your life. I care. I'm very thankful that my best friend is still here today. I don't know what I would've done if she didn't get the help that she needed. I will forever thank God that He saved her. **

**thank you to all who reviewed !: waldork, MegJackson, achillesheel02, Rose Fang, Tajee165, pepperose, Luna082, Anonymous, AzianDemigod16, Arrow of Artemis, Guest, yanksrock615**

**HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE ! enjoy(:**

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Not much of my schedule changed from first to second trimester—it was mainly just the times of everything. The good thing about my new schedule is my earliest class during the whole week is now ten forty-five which meant that I was able to take my used-to-be-usual thirty minute hot shower in the morning. English was still my first class, but this trimester I had it on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. A whole extra day with Annabeth.

Somehow, however, this thought didn't faze me. It was as if I was ready for this. I had survived Annabeth's good and bad days, her countless tormenting, and I had even survived her staying at my house. By this point, I could pretty much survive anything.

My muscles were super tense even when I was in the shower. I hadn't slept well the night before because of my dad's stupid threat. Every time I thought about it, I wanted to roll my eyes. However, the threat was bad enough to only allow me about two hours of uninterrupted sleep total. Bags had already fell under my eyes and I even had to hold the wall of the shower a couple of times to keep from swaying.

When I realized that my water and steam therapy wasn't going to get rid of my problem, I stepped out and started getting dressed. I still had half an hour left until class, but I grabbed my coat and backpack anyways, figuring that I could stop for some breakfast from the coffee shop which would kill some more time. I would be needing the coffee to get me through the day anyways.

When I walked inside the shop, I got the feeling that my schedule wasn't the only one that got pushed back considering the fact that it was packed with students who all seemed to have had the same idea that I did. There was barely enough room to breathe, let alone walk. By the time I got to order my coffee and get across campus to Chiron's class, I was a couple minutes late. When I walked in, however, Chiron seemed to notice my dreary expression and baggy eyes and gave me some sympathy. He always did. He simply gestured towards the middle of the room where Annabeth's blonde-curled head was buried in a text book.

The rest of my classmates seemed to be acting the same as they were before break: some were parked in front of the old desktop computers, others were browsing the classrooms enormous encyclopedia sets, many were just sitting and talking, ignoring their paper completely.

I threw my backpack and jacket over my desk then walked over to meet Annabeth. Before I could even say anything, her head popped up, she gave me a once-over, then said, "Jeez, Percy, what hole did you crawl out of this morning?"

"The same one you crawl out of every day," I said, pulling up a nearby desk. I sat on the top.

She gave me a look. "Yeah, okay, Seaweed Brain. Try to find an imperfection." She leaned back in her chair, just daring me to check her out. I had to admit, it was pretty hard not to.

Once again, she was dressed up in all designer-wear. Her heels were shorter than normal, but I still judged her so harshly for wearing them in winter when there was three feet of snow and ice on the ground. I mean, come on. I also judged her harshly on the fact that she was wearing a tank top. Again, come on.

"That cockiness that you sprayed on yourself this morning is just a bit too strong for my liking," I said. She bent back over her book, rolling her eyes. "And at least my hole comes with reasonable clothing," I added. "Seriously, Wise Girl, it's winter. Why are you in heels and a tank top?"

She shrugged. "Thought it looked cute so I wore it. That a problem?"

"Not until you trip on the ice and get hypothermia."

She crossed her arms. "I brought a jacket, dumbass. And I'm not going to fall."

I had to laugh at that. "Oh, please, Wise Girl. I've seen you walk in heels and trust me, you will."

"I got here just fine, didn't I?" she said. Her stormy eyes darkened.

"Well I wouldn't know, now would I? You know, considering I _wasn't with you_."

She huffed. "You're impossible, Seaweed Brain."

I started mocking her by crossing my arms as well. "I'm disappointed, Wise Girl. I thought I would be able to come back from break and be heavily insulted by you, but so far, I'm not getting much."

"Oh, believe me, you will."

"See? Like that. Not too impressive."

Her mouth tightened into a hard line. "Shut. Up. I'm tired."

"Well, if it means anything," I said. "you don't look like you had a very rough night."

She gave me a look of confusion. "Um, thanks?" I quick took a gulp of my coffee, hoping that the blood that was rushing to my cheeks would look like it came from that. I mentally scolded myself for saying a line so stupid. Was I..._complimenting_ her? "But I did," she added.

"That makes two of us," I mumbled. I set my coffee back down.

Annabeth's mouth twisted and I shifted uncomfortably. I could tell we were both thinking about the same thing: the little office scene yesterday. I didn't think Annabeth knew what it was about, but it was pretty obvious that she could tell that I had a fight with my dad. If me barging out of his office wasn't enough of a give-away, then my fresh-out-of-a-hole look probably did.

"You know, Percy," she said. "It's not any of my business of course, but what happened yesterday at your dad's office?"

"Yeah, what were you doing there, anyways?" I asked. I wasn't trying to change the topic, but I sure as hell was hoping I could get her to change it.

"Papers," she said. "I had to have Zeus sign something that said that I could switch into a junior math class, but the receptionist said that Zeus was out and to just have your dad sign the papers instead."

I mumbled something to myself that even I couldn't fully understand. Annabeth didn't seem to notice and instead said, "So what happened?"

I dropped my head and let my hair fall in my eyes. When I didn't answer, Annabeth quickly added, "I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Like I said, it's none of my business, I was just wondering—"

"No, no," I interrupted. "It's fine, I guess." This was clearly an uncomfortable situation for both of us. We had never asked each other if something was wrong or bothering us or anything. We had more of the relationship where if the other person came in clearly having a bad morning, we just couldn't find it in our hearts to care.

Annabeth awkwardly crossed her legs and leaned forward, like she was preparing to listen. I shifted in my seat and ran my finger through my still-damp hair. I considered just backing out and telling her not to worry about it, but then I remember our phone conversation the week before. She willing told me that she has a family who's never home and a missing birth-mother. If she could tell me that, I can tell her that I'm at risk of being kicked out of the country's most elite college by my own father.

"I, err...My dad called me in because he got my grades back from last tri."

Annabeth smirked. I gave her a look. "Sorry," she said. "Keep going."

I growled deep in my throat and ran my fingers through my hair once more before continuing. "Okay, well basically, everything's fine except my Calc grade, and my dad told me that I can either drop out this trimester and go back to live with my mom where I could actually choose a school that I wanted to go to, or I could find a way to get my grade up. But if I choose to stay and don't get the grade I need, he's kicking me out." The thought that my dad would seriously kick me out after forcing me to come in the first place made me want to punch something all over again. Preferably his face.

"Oh, um..." She twisted her mouth. "Well, didn't you want to leave anyways? You wanted to go somewhere that you picked?"

"At first, yeah," I said. "but not anymore. I guess it kind of got to the point where I...I don't know, I wanted to show that I could do it. Like, did you know that it was my dad who first said that I wouldn't be successful anyways?" I let out a sharp laugh. "And then he has the nerve to tell me that I _need_ to be successful or he'll kick me out! I'm his son! How could he do that to me?"

I didn't realize that I had pushed off the desk until I was pacing away from Annabeth. I stopped and took a breath. Some of my classmates had noticed my shouting, but they didn't seem to think anything of it. For all they knew, we were probably just having another fight. Someone rested their hand on my shoulder.

"Percy, calm down," Annabeth whispered. Her warm touch and smooth voice was enough to calm me. _Snap out of it, Percy_. _You hate her_.

I quickly shrugged her hand off and turned around. "I'm allowed to be upset if I want to be."

"I know you are," she said. "but just being upset won't solve anything."

I clenched my teeth. I don't know if I was mad that she was making sense or I was still just mad at my dad and taking it out on her, but either way, I released my anger in a single breath. "You're right."

She smirked. "See? You're not _always_ right."

"Oh, and you are?"

With a cocky smile, she said. "Yup. Like, you know that saying 'even when I'm wrong, I'm right?'"

"Yeah?"

"That's about me."

I chucked. "I think you outdo me in cockiness, Wise Girl."

"Maybe, but I have a reason to be cocky."

"Oh, really?" I asked. "What's that?"

"I'm perfect." She flipped her hair. I laughed along with her.

As soon as my smile came, it fell. The air around me felt like it got ten times thicker to the point where it was hard to inhale. Something about this situation felt wrong which made my stomach to somersaults. It was the same feeling that I got when Annabeth was telling me about her family. It was just out of place and uncomfortable.

Annabeth seemed to have the same feeling because she stopped laughing as well then turned on her heel and started back to the desks. "So," she said over her shoulder. "what grade do you need in Calc to stay?"

"B minus," I answered, taking my seat as well.

She nodded. "Okay, and because finals were before break, you start the tri off with an A, so that shouldn't be too hard."

I huffed. "You haven't seen me try to do Calculus. If you think me reading English is bad, try watching me read numbers."

She giggled. "Yeah, I guess I can see that."

I cracked a smile as well, then let it drop. "I just don't know what I'm going to do."

Annabeth started nervously drumming her fingers and she knitted her eyebrows together. Then, with a frustrated fist, she pounded her desk. "Dammit," she muttered.

"What?"

She closed her eyes and sighed. "Do you need help with your Calc, Percy?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Haven't we established that, smartie?"

"Oh, shut up, Seaweed Brain. I meant from me. I owe you for giving me a place to stay over Thanksgiving anyways."

I widened my eyes. "Wait, so you want to...tutor me?"

"Do I _want_ to? No," she stated. "But will I? Sure."

My head started to race at the idea of a tutor in general, much less from my wicked English partner who has been making me have weird feelings recently. Plus, getting a tutor was the first thing that I told my dad I wouldn't do.

_On the other hand_, I thought. _I need this grade, and Annabeth is the smartest person in the school. Possibly the state. _I started drumming my fingers. She also just said that she's switching into a junior math class. That's about four grades higher than what I know.

I sighed. "Alright, fine. When do we start?"

Annabeth brought out her phone and started scrolling through it. "Looks like I'm pretty booked up," she mumbled.

"With what? Stripping?"

She shot me a glare. "Tee hee. No. Believe it or not, I do have a life."

"You're right, I don't believe it."

"I am free Friday though," she said, ignoring me.

I slouched my shoulders. "So you have a life but not on a Friday? That's the _one_ day that you're not busy?"

"What? Are you?"

I blinked. "No."

She gave me a look. "That's what I thought. So Friday it is?"

Bravely, I responded, "Friday it is."

* * *

That night, I wasn't really in the mood to talk to anyone. Not Nico, not Annabeth, and definitely not my dad.

Instead of plodding back to my dorm and collapsing on my bed like usual, I took a slight detour and stopped by the boys' lounge. Nico said that they we have our own café so I thought that I should probably go see it before I get kicked out.

The lounge itself wasn't very much—just a big room with a couple chairs, a not-on TV and two pool tables. Some music from the 90's was playing out of speakers. The weirdest part though was there were only about fifteen guys scattered throughout the room at most; almost all of them had a textbook opened or papers scattered in front of them. Clearly _relaxation_ wasn't in the school's budget. Or vocabulary.

The whole back wall, however, was replaced with a pretty decent looking café. The smell of bagels and coffee wafted towards me which made me realize that I hadn't eaten anything yet today besides the coffee that I inhaled this morning. But for a still-growing nineteen-year-old boy, coffee isn't exactly what you could consider "satisfying." I ordered a hot chocolate and a muffin to start, knowing that I'd probably end up getting more later.

"Percy Jackson, right?" A guy with sandy blonde hair came up to me. He looked like he was pretty much the only one who came here to actually hang out other than me.

"Uh, yeah," I said. "Hey."

"Hey," he replied. "I'm Luke."

Immediately, I recognized him. He was the one who was playfully shoving Annabeth back and forth at The Spot the day that I invited her to come to my house for Thanksgiving. He's also the guy who throws the Project-X-worthy parties that I hear about all the time from Nico. "Annabeth's friend," I said. "She's mentioned you."

"Likewise," he said. "Lots of times, actually."

I raised an eyebrow. "Really? W-what does she say?"

He shrugged. "Nothing bad. I mean, it _used_ to be pretty bad," I chuckled. "but not so much anymore. She more just brings you up in stories or something."

I didn't know why, but I could feel my cheeks starting to burn. "Oh, okay." I could deal with that, right? I mean, I'm pretty much the same way—I bet Nico's ears would've fallen off if I called Annabeth a blonde-haired-wicked-braniac-bitch-girl one more time during the last trimester. But it had been a whole day and this was the first time that I found myself talking about something even closely related to her outside of English.

He nodded. "Yeah. But, hey, want to play some pool? Everyone else here are, well...nerds." He said it with a confident tone; loud. I saw about five heads turn in his direction and I even caught the eyes of one guy with bright red hair and glasses who looked genuinely hurt. I instantly felt terrible to even be talking to Luke. If I were the guy who turned to look, I would get up and punch Luke out without another thought.

I laughed awkwardly. "Uh, yeah, sure. Rack it up and I'll be there in a second."

"Alright, man. Hurry up."

I couldn't help but scoff at his dick-like attitude. Then I remembered who I was dealing with and where I was. I was in OU where—secretly—being in the right clique matters more than good grades. Also, I was talking to Luke Castellan, the guy who attained the highest possible status that anyone could simply by throwing parties every now and then. Those parties must be even more legendary than I thought. That's probably why the bright-haired guy didn't even try to say anything—he knew not to mess with Luke simply because of his status.

The girl who was working behind the counter handed me my food. "I'd be careful if I were you," she said quietly. "Don't start hanging out with that guy too much."

I raised my eyebrow. "Is he that bad?"

She laughed humorlessly. "Not if you're smart."

I got the feeling that she didn't put herself into the "smart" category. Regardless, I decided not to push the topic any further and just thanked her for the advice. I told her that Luke wasn't the kind of guy I really wanted to hang out with anyways and she relaxed.

"Good," she said. "'cause a sweet guy like you doesn't need to turn into another Luke-clone." Was she flirting?

"Err, thanks." I walked over to Luke and set my food down on a near-by table.

"Man, that cutie was checking you out," he said, handing me a pool stick. "You break."

I walked over to the end of the table. "Really?" I took the shot and none went in. "I got the vibe that she was flirting but I don't know about the checking-out part."

"That's because she did it so you wouldn't notice. Duh." Luke lined up his shot and knocked two stripes into the corner pockets.

I chuckled. "Guess I'm just not an expert on girls." I took a quick peek back at the counter girl. She was in uniform with a black polo and a black visor. Her curly red hair was pulled back into a bun and she had freckles spread across her face. She was pretty cute when it came right down to it.

Luke chuckled as he lined up for a second shot. "I'm surprised, dude. You seem like the kind of guy who would have chicks crawling on you."

I chuckled dryly. "Well, I'm not. I don't have much experience with girls at all, actually."

Luke looked up with a smirk and an eyebrow raised. "Wait, so does that mean you haven't done, like, _anything?_"

I kind of got what he was getting at. "I've done some stuff, I guess, but yes, I'm a virgin." I was usually able to admit that with pride. It showed that I wasn't sucked into the typical stupid teenage life and I actually _did_ care about who I would have my first time with. But for some reason, admitting that to Luke felt weird. I almost wished that I could take it back, like I actually cared what he thought. I had never cared about status before, so why was I almost caring now?

Luke didn't even seem like he was trying to keep in his laughter. He just let out a couple harsh, loud laughs. "Man!" he exclaimed. "Bro, that's awesome. I've totally got to hook you up. You've _got_ to come to my spring break party."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Uh, I don't know, man," I mumbled. "Parties aren't really my thing."

He brushed me off. "Oh, whatever. You don't have to like drink or anything. That can be the girls' job. And you know what happens when a hot girl gets drunk?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively like I would just automatically see it his way and totally be up for the idea of hooking up with some slut just so I could brag that I wasn't a virgin anymore.

Luke was the biggest dick I've ever met.

"I'll think about it," I lied.

He smiled then sunk two more balls. "You've got three months to think, man."

I nodded then pretended to look at the clock. "Um, I've, uh, got to get going. I have this...thing."

Luke narrowed his eyes but then brushed it off and chuckled. "Whatever, Perce. See you around."

I forgot my hot chocolate and muffin on the table on my way out.

* * *

**nice & long . once again, have an amazing end to 2012 & start to 2013 ! wanna give me a present ..? review ! or just let me know what you celebrate , how you celebrate it & if you got anything interesting ! I love hearing about that kind of stuff (: -kenna(:**


	9. The Butterflies

**thanks to Louisa4533, Guest, ItsAMe, pepperose, boomboomboom for reviewing ! Thanks to everyone else for reading !**

* * *

I was convinced that Nico di Angelo was secretly a spy. Or a creep. Either one.

It didn't matter who I was talking about, whether or not I knew their name, senior or freshman, boy or girl; Nico had the stats on them.

"What else was I supposed to do over break?" he said in response to the weird look I gave him when I got home from class the next afternoon. Nico was hunched over a laptop, tapping away. On his screen was a picture of some girl and her school records.

Turns out, that's what his winter break consisted of: him going through his dad's laptop again. Him and his dad were invited to stay at many different places for the break but neither of them accepted any. I'm not surprised—they're not exactly people-persons.

"Does your dad even know you have his laptop?" I couldn't help but take a seat next to him and start reading through the girl's information. _Katherine Gardner__—Freshman_—_3.7 GPA_.

"Probably not. He's not very observant." He clicked to another page. _Lee Fletcher._

I chuckled. "So you just memorize stuff on every person at OU?"

"Hey, it's helpful in the long run."

"Yeah? How?"

"Like, did you know Thalia Grace is our cousin too?" He pulled up a picture of the dark-haired roommate of Annabeth who slapped me before I even knew her name.

"Actually?" I said.

"Yeah, she's Zeus' daughter. Junior." He started flipping through some of her pictures on her school profile. There was one of her senior picture where she was in combat boots, a leather jacket, and her electric blue eyes hurt to look at even through a screen. Another showed her with some friends whom I didn't recognize, and the last one that Nico stopped on was a picture of her with some people whom I _did_ recognize. Thalia, Annabeth, and Luke looked a couple years younger and were standing on what looked like Venice Beach in California. Thalia had her arms crossed and was—shockingly—smiling. Annabeth and Luke were standing next to her holding hands.

Wait.

I had to do a double-take and even narrowed my eyes at the screen to make sure I was seeing it right. Top-twenty braniac-freshman Annabeth and douche-dick senior Luke were _holding hands_. I clenched my fist.

Nico noticed this. "You okay, man?"

"I just ran into Luke yesterday," I said. "I don't like him."

Nico scoffed. "Welcome to the club. I don't know if you'd be able to find someone on this campus who_ does_ like him."

"Obviously Blondie and the dark-haired bitch do," I muttered.

"Don't be so surprised. Everyone who sits at 'The Spot' suck." Nico made a face at the thought then clicked a different link.

Thinking about my little meeting with Luke reminded me of the girl behind the counter at the lounge. "Hey, do you know a girl with, like, curly red hair, freckles, works at the coffee shop in the lounge?"

"Oh, Rachel Dare? Yeah, she's cool. Cute, too. Why?"

I shrugged. "I think she was flirting with me yesterday so I was just wondering." Her nervous smile and shy green eyes popped back into my head.

"Then ask her out, Perce," he said. "Might be good for you. The only girls you've even looked at all year have been Annabeth and Thalia. Both of them hate you."

I laughed. "Yeah, I guess that's true. I don't know, I'll think about it." In all honesty, I wasn't going to think about it at all. I had too much to worry about right now and dating just wasn't on my list of things to do. _'Course, I could always find Luke for a quick hook up with some random, drunk slut,_ I thought. I wanted to punch him.

Nico nodded in response and turned his attention back to the screen, tapping away.

* * *

"It's open," I heard Annabeth call from inside her dorm.

Friday had come much too quickly. I had spent the rest of the week focusing mainly on school work. Now, usually that's not what I would do at all, but between trying to avoid Wise Girl, my dad and now the lounge just in case of Luke, there's not much else to do.

The thought of the weekend kept me going. Those sweet two and a half days made avoiding my problems ten times easier because it was only time that I could sit my butt in my room and stay there. Then my excitement would fall once I remembered how I was cornered into starting my weekend: a tutoring session with Wise Girl.

I opened the door and nearly choked on my own gasp. Annabeth Chase was laying on the floor. Wearing sweatpants. Not only that, but her hair was _in a_ _ponytail_. And a very messy one at that. I couldn't help but chuckle a little bit.

She gave me a look. "What?"

I dropped my bag on a chair and joined her on the ground. "Designer jeans all dirty today or something?"

She rolled her eyes. "No. Believe it or not, I always wear sweats."

"Then how come I've never seen you wear them?"

She turned the page of a texted book that sat in front of her. "I don't wear them to class. Usually only when I'm alone or sleeping and stuff."

"Why?" I asked while trying to get myself comfortable. Having ADHD doesn't make laying on the ground easy. I swear I shifted at least six times before I found a position manageable for the first couple of minutes.

She shrugged. "I don't know." Her voice lowered. "Just trying to fit in a little, I guess."

I scrunched my eyebrows. "I didn't take you as the girl who needed help fitting in. To me, it always looked like you fit in with ease." My mind flashed to her sitting at The Spot surrounded by people.

"Well, there's a lot you don't know about me."

There was a long silence as we both let that sink in. The way she said that gave me that weird feeling again. She said it in a tone that I knew very well from all the times my mom would be searching for a compliment but didn't want to just say, "Compliment me!" She would be hoping that either me or Paul would figure it out ourselves. In this case, however, it was like Annabeth actually wanted to talk to me but wanted me to bring it up first.

"Okay," I answered after a good thirty seconds of silence. "Like what?"

She shrugged again. "I don't know. Just...stuff."

She still was using that tone so I figured I would have to try harder. I took the textbook that was lying in front of her and pretended to look at it before promptly closing it and pushing it to the side. Annabeth gave me a look. "You know you came over to study, right, Seaweed Brain? Textbooks are kind of important."

"I know," I said. "but, Wise Girl, for the first time ever and probably the _only_ time ever, you are much more interesting than Calculus."

She gave me a look like she wanted to be insulted but was laughing at the same time. "You're a jerk, Percy. You know that?"

"So I've heard," I said. "but seriously, Chiron and Thalia were right—if we're forced to spend all this time together for English and now you're helping me with Calc, we should at least try to...like, get to know each other or whatever friendly people do."

"Wait, you know Thalia?" she asked.

I gave her a cheesy smile. "_See?_ We're actually talking! Yes, in fact, I do know Thalia. She's my cousin."

"Really?" she asked. "She's never said anything about it."

"Well, to be honest, I'd be surprised if she even knew," I said. "I didn't know until my other cousin-slash-roommate told me. Our family isn't what you would call 'close.'"

"I see."

"Yeah, and after, uh, Thanksgiving..." I paused for a second and ducked my head. Thanksgiving was still kind of a touchy subject for us. It was like 9/11 in America or the Crusade Wars in the Middle Ages—you only talk about it if you legitimately have something to say. Other than that, you let it be an unspoken thought. "Thalia found me when I was ditching and started yelling at me."

Annabeth laughed. "Yeah, that sounds like her."

"It was actually her idea to apologize for, err, what was said. I mean, I was planning on apologizing eventually but..."

"You were thinking _eventually_ instead of right then which is why you were trying to ditch?"

"Exactly."

She nodded. "Yeah, same here, except without actually ditching—"

"You couldn't ditch even if you wanted to," I pointed out.

"Well, that's exactly it," she said. "I _wanted_ to, but I didn't, so that whole morning I was a ball of nerves wondering what I should say to you. Then you didn't show so I was kind of relieved but then you did show up and apologized first."

"All Thalia," I assured.

"Guess I'll have to thank her for that."

I smirked and kept her gaze for a couple seconds. That was the thing about Annabeth that I had noticed: she always kept me thinking whether I was in the mood to think or not. Every now and then, she would throw in comments like that that I would feel the need to ask her what she meant exactly but I learned to leave it hanging and put my own meaning to it. I felt like it was better this way then suffering through another lecture usually starting with something like, "You're _such_ a Seaweed Brain. I swear you were raised by monkeys."

A couple long seconds later, I was still staring. _Her skin was so perfect..._ I wiped the smile off my lips and shifted. "So, how long have you known her?"

She blinked then turned her head. Some of her curls fell out of her ponytail but she looked like she had already tried multiple times to keep them in their place. This time, it looked like she had just given up. "Oh, Thals and I go way back. Actually, her, Luke and I have known each other since we were little."

I pursed my lips and nodded. The picture of the three of them on the beach came to mind. "I've talked to Luke too."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah," I said. "He's, err, he's cool, I guess." I shook my hair.

"You don't have to lie, you know," she said. "You wouldn't be the first to not like him."

"Good. He's a dick."

She gave me a look. "I wouldn't go _that_ far. If you really actually got the time to talk to him, he's a good guy."

"He takes advantage of girls, Annabeth," I said bluntly. "No good guy does that."

"I refuse to believe that," she said stubbornly. "Most rumors in this school aren't true anyways. Plus, I've confronted him about some rumors like that and he said they were all lies, so I believe him."

Her eyebrows came into a 'V' and her eyes started to cloud up again like they did when she was annoyed. She turned her head away and frantically looked for something to play with. I stiffened my back a little.

"Did you and him have a thing or something?" I asked.

Her daggers fell back on me. "Why do you care?"

"Just, uh, just curious."

Annabeth stood up and started walking towards the opposite side of the room to the stereo. She grabbed the remote that was sitting next to it and turned it on. "We've dated a couple times, I guess," she said over her shoulder.

"More than once?"

"Yes," she said bitterly. I knew this wasn't a good topic and I was probably going to get a black eye if I kept going, but I just wanted to know why Annabeth would go for a dick like Luke.

"Why?" I asked.

She turned around. "Because I liked him?" she stated like it was obvious. "What other reason is there?"

"Liked?" I noticed. "As in, not anymore?"

"What is your _deal_, Seaweed Brain?"

I looked down. "Sorry, it was just a question," I mumbled.

She crossed her arms, looking like she wanted to say something, but then she dropped her arms and just came back to lay on the floor, her lips sealed. She set her Calculus textbook back in front of her and started flipping through the pages.

"Hey, I've still got some questions, you know."

"What if I don't want to answer any more?" she grumbled.

"Fine. Then you ask some instead." I pulled the textbook away from her and this time set it behind me. "Plus, if you can't tell, I'm procrastinating."

"Clearly." She smirked. "You're really good at it."

"Yeah," I agreed. "They should make it a class here. I'd pass college with flying colors."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and shoved me. "You're an idiot, Seaweed Brain."

"Thanks."

"Okay, so I guess I do have one question," she admitted. "What was with the blue mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving?"

I laughed. "It's my mom's thing. It's her way of saying that anything can be done, even though it _is _just blue food coloring."

"Have you told her that?"

I gave her a look. "You've seen her when she's mad. I'm not _that_ idiotic."

She started laughing. Like, _really_ laughing. And not just the short giggles that I get every now and then, but she was actually probably laughing a lot harder than I thought she would. In all honestly, I didn't really think it was that funny, but seeing her laugh made me laugh.

And for the first time since we met all those months before, we laughed like two real people.

I caught Annabeth's gaze for a split second when she was still giggling. Her curly blonde hair didn't seem so stuck-up and unnaturally perfect anymore. In fact, it looked more _actually _perfect, even with it pulled back and some strands out of place. Her face was glowing and, now that I saw her actually smiling, she looked...well, beautiful. And with her body covered in loose, old clothes, she looked like a person; someone genuine—real.

She caught my gaze as well and I couldn't help but to stare into her gray eyes. Now that they weren't shooting daggers or filled with annoyance, I was actually kind of blown away by them. They completed her newly-shown Real Annabeth look.

And Real Annabeth was giving me butterflies.

I was shocked when I felt myself start to lean towards her. I was even more shocked when I could have sworn I saw her leaning in as well. But I think Thalia was the most shocked when she walked in the door to see the two of us an inch apart.

"Whoa!" she screamed. "Hell-_o_! No one needs to see that!"

We both jumped back. I hit my head. I could feel my cheeks burning as I looked over to Annabeth to see her cheeks getting pinker by the second as well.

"So, um, are we, err, done here?" I stammered.

"Err, yeah," Annabeth said, even if I had only been there for about ten minutes. She started gathering all our unused Calc papers and materials. "I think we're good for the day."

"Great." I shot up and grabbed my bag. Thalia was half-smirking, half-disgusted. "So, um, yeah. I'll see you later." I ran out the door before I even heard her response.

* * *

**review dahlings -kenna**


	10. The Date

**sorry about the wait y'all ! lots of stuff that backed it up but here's a longer-than-usual chapter !**

**enjoy(:**

* * *

The next morning, I woke with a migraine; And I didn't have to be majoring in rocket science to know what it was from.

From the point that I had scurried out the door to now, drenched in a cold sweat and still wearing my jeans, only one thing ran through my mind: the fact that I almost kissed the wicked little braniac they call Annabeth.

She even made an appearance in my dream for the few hours that I had been able to keep my eyes closed. This wasn't out of the normal, but usually those "dreams" were nightmares. This dream was actually dream-like. I was standing on my fire-escape balcony back home, looking at a potted flower one of my ex-girlfriends gave me.

"Hey," I heard from the level about me. Annabeth was sitting on the steps, her hair pulled back and her outfit looking like she literally dug it out of her closet. My breath caught in my throat.

"Hey," I replied.

"What's that?" she pointed at the flower pot in my hands.

"Err, it was a gift from, um, my mom." I didn't know why I lied. My mind was scolding myself for caring, but it was as if my body and mind were suddenly disconnected. Something else was driving my actions and words, so all I could do was watch.

Annabeth smirked. "Oh, really." She pranced down the steps until we were standing nose to nose. "Well that was very sweet of her."

"Yeah, it was."

"Except you hate flowers. You're allergic to pollen." _How did she know that?_ "So why would your mom get you a flower?"

I blinked. "She forgot."

"Mmm," she said. "You're a horrible liar, Seaweed Brain."

"I'm not lying," I mumbled while setting the pot on the ground.

"Are too. You can never look me in the eye when you're lying." Just to prove her point, she grabbed my chin and turned my head in her direction. My eyes locked on hers and I had to stop myself from staring too much. Mind Percy could have stared at them all day, but Body Percy pulled away.

"You're not so great of a liar yourself, Miss Chase," I said. "You always get a little crease in your forehead when you're lying."

"Do not."

I pointed. "Creased."

"Did not!" She playfully pushed me. I grabbed her arms and slung her over my back.

"Did too!"

"Ah, Percy!" she laughed and held me tight as I spun. The feeling of her arms around me was too real. Her laughter was too real; Her eyes were too real.

But it wasn't real. And Mind Percy knew that.

Body Percy, however, just stopped spinning and took her waist in his hands. "Admit it."

Annabeth's ponytail started falling out so she just took it down. Her hair was perfect, of course. "Oh, shut up. Kiss me."

Annabeth grabbed onto my collar and pulled me in. Right before my lips met hers, however, everything went black and my eyes shot open.

Even the feeling of almost kissing her in my dream was too real. It really a dream, though. I was asleep, yes, but it was so real it almost felt like a...fantasy, maybe?

_That _is when my head started throbbing.

Someone knocked on the door. Of course, to me, it sounded like gunshots. "Ugh," I groaned. "Come in."

Connor Stoll popped his head in. Connor has an identical twin brother, Travis, and to be honest, the only reason I knew it was Connor was because Katie Gardner, Travis's girlfriend, wasn't on his hip. "Hey, man" he greeted. He took a couple steps in before noticing my appearance. "Whoa. Man, you look terrible."

I scoffed. "Thanks, man."

"No problem," he said. "Now, hey, I came to tell you that there's a water-ball tournament going on in an hour and I thought you might want to join up. I still need one more player." He gave me another pity-look. "Plus, judging by how you look, my guess is you could use a normal Saturday."

He was right. "Yeah, sure. But where are we playing? It's like forty degrees out."

"The indoor pool," he said.

"We have an indoor pool?"

"Yeah, bottom floor in the gym."

I blinked. "We have a gym?"

"You don't get out much, do you?"

"Nope."

"Cool," he said. "Well ask for some directions and meet there in, like, forty-five minutes. I want my team to look good by being there early."

I chuckled. "Alright, will do."

Connor closed the door and left me back with my thoughts. The silence was almost over-whelming so I decided to rinse off in the shower. But again, it didn't matter how warm the water was or how long I stood there as the water poured down, my head stayed clouded. I gave up and stepped out. I changed into a white t-shirt and my sweats, deciding to change into my trunks there.

About fifteen minutes and many attempts later, I finally found the pool. From the looks of it, water-ball was a big deal at OU. Even being there early, I could see at least fifty guys in suits gathering in their teams. The stands had people spread sporadically throughout them who were waiting for the games to begin. I figured they had to be pretty dedicated to come to a student water-ball game at ten-thirty on a Saturday morning. I even saw my dad walking around from team to team, wishing them luck. Just seeing him from a distance still made me mad so I rushed around the opposite side of the pool, hoping he wouldn't notice me.

Connor was already changed and standing next to his brother. When he saw me, he smiled and waved. "Perce!" he called. "Come over here."

I did as I was told and walked up to him. "Hey," I greeted.

"Go get changed then come back out here," he said. "We'll be starting in a bit." I nodded then scouted out the crowd to make sure my dad was gone before heading towards the locker room.

"Percy!" I heard from somewhere in the mass of people. I looked over heads until I saw Luke smiling at me.

"Oh, God," I muttered to myself. He walked towards me and clapped me on the shoulder.

"Hey, man, glad to see you're joining the game," he said.

"Yeah, Connor needed one more person."

He nodded. "Cool. I've got my own team so maybe we'll end up playing you guys."

"That'd be cool."

"Man, we'd whip your asses." He started laughing like we were the best of friends.

I tried to chuckle along. "Yeah, we'll see, I guess."

"Luke," someone called from behind me. I knew that voice. _Oh, God._ I felt blood rush to my cheeks. "There you are, I lost you."

"Sorry," he said. "I lost you too then I saw Percy so I came over to say hey."

Her head fell and she hid behind her curls. At that moment, I honestly had never wanted to drown more in my life. I was ready to just jump in the pool and make it happen right then. Instead, I pretended to be playing with my swimsuit strings. "Oh," she said. "That's fine." Her tone made it obvious that she was right there with me on the whole 'drowning' thing.

"Listen," I mumbled to Luke. "I should really go get my suit on—"

Luke didn't even pay any attention to me and instead looked right over my head and waved to the distance. "Hey!" he called to someone. Then he turned back to Annabeth and I and said, "Sorry, guys. I'll be right back." He took Annabeth's hand and squeezed it while giving her a look of assurance. She gave him a shy smile back before he took off. My heart started speeding up and I raised my eyebrow. I suddenly didn't want to go anywhere.

"Thought you said you and Luke weren't dating anymore," I said.

"We're not," she defended. Her eyes locked with mine for half a second and the butterflies started up again. "We're friends."

"I don't remember the last time I held hands with a friend."

Her cheeks turned pink and her eyes darkened. Part of me relaxed at the sight of her normal, annoying expression. It made it a lot easier to be around her. "Why do you care so much, Seaweed Brain? You're not letting up on this."

"Well last night I was just curious," I said. There was a pause between us and something told me we both were thinking of the same thing. She bit her lip and shifted like she was hoping someone would come save her. I didn't know what I wanted to happen, I just knew this silence had to end before I really did throw myself in the pool.

"And like I said," I added quickly. "I don't like Luke."

A look of realization came across her face. She shifted back into her usual cocky smirk and her shoulders rolled back. "My, oh my. Is a mister Percy Jackson jealous?"

My face boiled and I squared my shoulders to her. "I am _not_ jealous," I said.

"Well, good," she said. "because you shouldn't be."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged. "Jealousy is only for people who like each other, right?"

"Well, yeah," I said quietly. My heart started beating in my ears and my throat clenched. "But—"

"What happened last night didn't mean anything, Percy." Another silence surrounded us. She crossed her arms and looked away. "It was just a heat-of-the-moment kind of thing," She paused and peaked at me. "right?"

I blinked. _It didn't mean anything_.

I opened and closed my mouth what felt like thirty times before I just nodded. "Yeah, I know," I said. "You're right."

She nodded back stiffly and kept her mouth shut. It felt like I just swallowed a ten-pound weight and all my muscles tightened. I wanted to go back to bed for the rest of the month and I didn't know why. Part of me wished I was still in bed and the other part was glad I wouldn't have to think about her anymore. At least, I think it was. Instead of thinking about it anymore, I just said, "I'll, err, see you Monday. Enjoy the games."

Annabeth stayed put and I kept walking. The only thing that kept me moving was the idea of someone knocking me out in the pool so I could sink to the bottom and never come back up.

* * *

The tournament passed without many memorable moments. My team won with ease and when it was time for us to play Luke's team, I made sure to make them embarrassed to even be there. Afterwards, Luke came up to me with the same smile that screamed _We're the best of friends and the greatest guys on campus! People wish they were us!_

"You've got game, Perce," he said. "Don't think beating me is going to be a common thing, though. We'll get you next time." He punched me in the arm and laughed.

I chuckled dryly. "Yeah, next time." I made an excuse that I had to go do laundry (I don't do laundry. I pay Nico to do mine.) but before I could turn away, he stopped me one more time.

"Oh, hey, Jackson," he said. "Me and some other guys are going out for drinks tonight downtown. You should come."

I turned back to him. "I'm not twenty-one."

He shrugged. "I can get you a cheap fake."

I shook my head. "Maybe next time."

"Aw, come on, man," he said. "How many 'next times' are there going to be?"

"Next time, okay?" I said as firmly as I could.

"Alright, but I'm holding you to that." He slapped me on the shoulder then ran passed me. I turned to leave in that same direction but that turned out to be a bad idea. Luke ran right up to Annabeth, grabbed her waist, and squeezed. She flinched and started laughing and tried to push him away just like I saw them doing at The Spot before Thanksgiving.

"They make me sick." Nico walked up next to me. I felt a little bad because I didn't even know he was here. "This was everyday last year when she would come take her classes."

I raised an eyebrow. "You saw them? Why were you here?"

"My dad would give me money," he said. His attention turned back to the star couple.

I growled. "You know, they're actually perfect for each other. They both piss me off."

He chuckled. "They piss everyone off. Or, Luke does, at least. What did he want anyway?"

"He invited me to get drinks tonight."

"Wow, Percy," he said with enthusiasm. "And all this time I thought you two were just friends. I'm glad you're finally coming out of the closet!"

I shoved him and he laughed. "Shut up," I said. I took another look over to the lovers where Annabeth was talking to another friend with a big grin on her face. Her hair was back to being unnaturally perfect and she had on a new pair of jeans. However, even with her usual Barbie doll look, her smile seemed to light up the room and even from thirty feet away, I could still see her eyes sparkle.

"Whatcha lookin' at there, Perce?" Nico noticed.

"Nothing," I said. Luke moved so he was standing next to Annabeth and he slipped his hand in her back pocket. She didn't make any effort to move it. _I thought they only did that in movies._"Staring off into the distance, I guess."

I really needed to get my mind off Annabeth. Not only did I feel totally wrong knowing that I was starting to care, but there was this other feeling. It was almost worse than anger. Actually, it _was_worse than anger because it was like I was sad at the same time. I didn't know what it was, but I didn't like it. I wondered if this was what it's like to be a girl on her time-of-the-month.

"Hey, I'm going to go back to the dorm," I added. "I've got some stuff to do."

"Alright," he said. "I'll see you later."

"See you." I marched out of the pool room, out of the gym, and didn't stop until Nico's laptop was up and running.

* * *

The people standing in front of Rachel and I were finally able to pronounce their foreign last name clearly enough to show that they did in fact have reservations for seven-thirty at this particular location.

"Next, please," the man behind the greeting desk said. He was a tall, lanky guy dressed even more formally than I was. And let me tell you, black pants and a dress shirt was even a stretch for me. "Name?"

"Jackson," I said. "Table for two." Rachel smiled and playfully bumped me. I had a feeling that Rachel got out even less than I did because when I looked up her number on Nico's laptop and first called her to ask if she would want to go out to dinner, she said yes faster than I could finish the question. Next thing I knew, I was driving my dad's BMW downtown with her glammed up in the passenger's seat.

Getting out was exactly what I needed—and with a girl who was cute, flirty, and _not_ blonde made it even better.

"Okay," he said. "Malory will show you to your table." A tall, blonde girl with menus already in her arms smiled and nodded her head.

"Right this way," she said. Her hips swayed as she pranced to a back section in the restaurant. I couldn't help but stare. At first, I thought it was because I'm a guy and she was hot, but then I realized that she walked exactly like Annabeth did in my dream. Malory's hair started to curl and her clothes started to change into sweats. The world around me slowed and I could hear my heart beat in my ears.

My foot caught on the leg of a chair and I almost fell on top of an old woman. "Oh, God, ma'am, I'm so sorry."

She simply smiled at me just like my grandma would do and said, "That's quite alright, my boy."

I looked back up. Rachel was giggling and Malory was still wearing her hostess uniform. I made a mental note to get to sleep early tonight. Rachel held out her hand in the way that she was more just asking me to keep up. I took it and we continued to follow Malory to our table.

The section she took us to was dark—I'm talking the "Who's hand am I holding again?" kind of dark. The whole room was lit by nothing but candles and from what I could see, every table was set for just two people. On the wall in fancy handwriting was the word _Sweethearts_. A harpist sat in the corner who was about as old as the woman I almost fell on—probably older.

Malory led us to the middle of the room. Around us, about a dozen other couples sat in fancy clothing holding hands across the table. I pulled out Rachel's chair for her which she smiled and thanked me for. I smirked to myself thinking my dad would've been proud. It quickly fell when I realized that I didn't care.

We ordered our drinks then Malory left us alone. Rachel took a deep breath. "This is incredible," she said while admiring the room. "How can you even afford this?"

"Dad's credit card," I said. "He owed me so I took it without telling him."

She raised an eyebrow. "What did he owe you for?"

"Long story." She nodded her head and didn't push the topic. I was appreciative of that because even a week later, I still felt anger boil inside of me when I thought about him.

"So, Percy," Rachel said. "Tell me about yourself."

"Okay. Like what?"

"I don't know, anything. Like, do you know what you're major will be?"

"Marine biology of some kind," I said. "How about you?"

"Psychology. I'm pretty good when it comes to 'mind and brain' stuff so I figured I should do something with it."

"Makes sense."

"Yeah." Rachel played with the hem of her dress. "Uh, where are you from?"

"New York."

Her eyes lit up. "You're joking, right? So am I!"

I smiled. "Really? Wow, that's awesome."

"Yeah, it's weird being so far from home."

"Tell me about it."

She shrugged. "But it is nice sometimes. Being away from my parents is a bonus."

"Oh, yes," I chuckled. "Well, actually, my dad gets on my nerves, but I do miss my mom and step-dad."

"That's sweet," she said. She started playing with her silverware. "and you're lucky. I've got two parents that piss me off."

"Oh, err, why is that?" I wasn't really sure if that was the best question to ask, but I wasn't really sure about anything when it came to this date.

"They just don't really get me," she answered. "Like, I'm usually not like this." She gestured to her red, sparkly dress and heels. "I honestly don't even know why I wore this."

"They why did you?" I chuckled.

"Well, you said we were going to a fancy restaurant so, I don't know, I didn't want to look sloppy."

"You don't have to impress me," I said. "Dressing up is a stretch for me too."

She smirked. "Good, then we agree on something."

I smiled. A waiter with a name tag that read _Steve_ came by with our drinks then took our orders. When he marched back to the kitchen with much more purpose than a college aged waiter should have, I turned back to Rachel and said, "So why don't your parents get you?"

"Oh, yeah, well see, they want me like this. They even sent me to this all-girls finishing school for society girls. It was hell." I couldn't help but wrinkle my nose. She noticed this and laughed. "I know, right?"

"And they made you go anyway?"

"I tried to get out of it," she explained. Her expression saddened. "but they're in charge."

"Oh, I'm sorry. That sucks."

"S'okay. That's why I like it here. I can be my own person."

At first I couldn't agree. My life was pretty much taken away from me when my parents sent me to OU without even asking me about it. And to make it even worse, now my future is in the hands of my hypocritical father and the teaching abilities of my "I'm just kidding and I actually don't want anything to do with you" English partner.

"I guess," I said.

"Well think about it: here, there's no one to tell us what to do or how to do it and we never have to act like someone we're not. I feel so free here."

"Lucky you. I'm jailed by my dad." I made a face.

Rachel grabbed my hand. I jumped a little in surprise but her soft touch relaxed me. It was like she was doing it more for a friendly gesture than a romantic one. I squeezed back. "Look, Percy, I heard about what happened with your dad, and I really just think he wants what's best for you." She smiled at me. "He probably told you about your grades so you could do what you needed to stay."

I scrunched my eyebrows. "Wait, what? How'd you know about that?"

"Honestly, lots of people know. He's threatening to kick you out if you don't get your grades up, right?"

My heart rate sped up. "I didn't tell anyone that, though."

She cocked her head. "Well, you had to have told _somebody_. It's all over campus." I clenched my fists. I think I hurt Rachel's hand but if I did, she didn't say anything.

"But, I-I didn't tell—" I froze. "Annabeth."

"You told Annabeth?" she said. "Annabeth Chase? I thought you guys hated each other. That one, I heard from, like, everybody."

I let out one sharp laugh. "Oh, don't worry." I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms. "We do."

* * *

**review guyssssssssss -kenna(:**


	11. The Dent

**sorry for the wait guys , I really am ! but i really like this chapter & i think you will too so hopefully it makes up for the time (:**

**thanks to my reviewers: Anonymous, yanksrock615, Luna082, Read-Write-Love1812, dawdler, pjoperson, Arrow of Artemis, ****Anonymous, ilGyhs**

* * *

I couldn't walk around the campus streets of OU anymore without feeling like everyone was whispering behind my back. Rachel was right: everyone seemed to know at least something about the fight that I had with my dad, whether or not their knowledge was actually true. Silena Beauregard, an extremely beautiful and pretty much the definition of "way out of my league" girl, even came up to me the morning after my date with Rachel with the worst rumor yet. According to Kelly who heard it from Carmen's boyfriend's sister who heard it from both Nancy _and_ Paris, I flunked every class and was only able to stay at OU because one, my mom wasn't sober and wouldn't take me back and two, I was paying my dad off to change my grades so I could pass.

With Silena standing in front of me in her designer clothes—much like Annabeth's wardrobe—and with an enthusiastic glint in her eyes—not like Annabeth—, I could do nothing but mumble, "I worry about this school sometimes."

That Monday, I had next to no desire to go to English only to spend an hour and a half with a girl who teased me into thinking she was starting to like me, almost kissed me, told me it meant nothing the next day, then told everyone and their mother's about how I was being kicked out of OU by my own dad, which was probably now a for-sure thing considering there was no way in hell I would accept anymore tutoring help from her.

Instead, I skipped class and met up with Rachel. She was lucky enough to not have class on Mondays so we hung out in the guy's lounge for hours. At one point, I asked her if it was awkward to be the only girl there. "Eh, it's still better than the girls lounge," she said. "The girls who go there are all pot heads, so the whole place smells like weed and cigarettes. Besides, no one's even here."

I looked around the deserted room. The café was technically open and Rachel was technically supposed to be working, but she pointed out that she had a feeling no one was going to be barging into a dirty, old lounge in the middle of the morning hoping for a cup of coffee. However, because she's a responsible person, she was still dressed in her khakis and visor and her curly, red hair was pulled back; not a touch of makeup was on her face.

She saw me studying her =and squinted. "Whatcha lookin' at there, Percy?"

"Uh, nothing," I said.

"Mhm, sure. Are you really this awkward with girls?"

I shrugged. "I just don't have _tons_ of experience. I had a girlfriend in high school, but I almost cheated on her then got caught." Calypso's enchanting but deceiving face slipped into my mind. I cringed. "I don't have luck with girls."

"Are you 'almost' going to cheat on me?"

Her question took me by surprise. "Wh-what?"

She rolled her eyes hopelessly. "Would you ever cheat on me?"

I blinked. "Are...um, are we, like, official?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Are we?"

"I don't know."

And that was pretty much the end of that conversation. I felt awkward talking to her for the remainder of the time that we had because all that I could picture was her laughing at everything I said, giving me kisses before class, asking me to rub her shoulders, and actually being like a real...girlfriend.

She really hadn't given me much time to think about how I felt about her. Yeah, she was cute and nice and funny and she always smelt like ivory and mint and I guess you could say that I liked her, but to be official so soon? I didn't know if I was ready, especially at the time that it came because I needed to focus hard on school if I was going to see my second year.

The campus clock chimed which was my cue to go to my next class. Rachel gave me a hug goodbye and pecked me on the cheek while she could. Just like everything else, she acted as if it were no big deal—like she kissed guys on the cheek that she had only known for a week all the time. I was still deciding if that was comforting or weird.

It was actually a pretty warm day for January. I saw lots of students peeling their winter jackets off as they stepped into the sun. I joined them and took mine off as well.

"Jackson," I heard. Thalia was standing outside the campus' bookstore which was only a couple doors down from the boy's lounge. Today her choppy hair was tucked behind her ears and her combat boots were laced up extra tight. "Come here."

I walked until I stood solid in front of her. "What?"

She rolled her eyes. "Relax, this won't take long." She looked around, probably to see if anyone was listening in on our conversation. "Look, Annie's been upset all weekend and I know you know why."

"How should I know?" I asked.

"I can just tell that it has something to do with you. So what did you do?"

I went on the defense. "Hey, I didn't do anything!" She shushed me. Obviously mine and Annabeth's complicated relationship was a secret to Thalia as well. I started again, this time whispering, "_She_ hurt _me_."

Thalia snorted. "Yeah, right. Then why has she been moping around the last two days?"

"Again, how should I know? Maybe it has to do with that dick of a boyfriend Luke."

That caused me to receive the coldest and most threatening glare of daggers that I have ever received in my life. All of the daggers that I have gotten from Annabeth didn't even compare to the chills that ran down my spine because of Thalia. "Luke is _not_ a dick." In all honesty, I was too afraid to say anything more, so I just shrugged. Then she added, "And Annabeth and Luke aren't together."

"That one I don't believe. I practically don't see one without the other anymore." That was a bit of a stretch being that the last time I saw either of them was at the water-ball tournament and they just happened to be together at that time.

"Why do you even care, Jackson?" She smirked.

I felt the blood in my veins rush to my cheeks. "I don't."

The knowing-smile on Thalia's face broadened and she glanced around one more time before pointing at me and saying, "Ha! I _so_ called it. You like her."

"I do not! In fact," I let out a sharp laugh. "I down-right _hate_ her."

"Do you always kiss girls you hate?"

I gritted my teeth. "We didn't kiss," I mumbled. "We _almost_ did. There's a difference. Plus, didn't Annabeth fill you in on her feelings about the situation? Because she made it pretty clear to me that it meant nothing and that _we_ were nothing."

"Yeah, yeah, she filled me in."

"Exactly. Plus, she—" My mouth snapped shut.

Thalia moved her hand in a circle, gesturing for me to finish my sentence. "She...what?"

If Rachel was telling the truth, then Thalia must know as well. "She told everyone about me and my dad's fight last week."

Thalia looked confused: her eyebrow was raised and she opened and closed her mouth a couple times, like she was trying to come up with how to respond. She reminded me of a fish. "Wait, what? No, she wouldn't do that—she hates rumors, so why would she start one?"

"I don't know and I don't care." A realization hit me then . I crossed my arms and lowered my head. "I'm _pretty_ sure she did, at least."

"You mean this isn't a fact? Meaning you heard a rumor that she started a rumor?" She laughed and shook her head.

"Well, it makes sense!" I said. "The only people who knew about it were my dad and her, and there's no way that my dad would tell anyone that he wanted to kick his son out of his own school because that would ruin his image or something. So that just leaves Annabeth."

"Well, I've known Annie since she was seven, and she wouldn't spread something like that, even if she _did_ hate you, which I know she doesn't." That brought Thalia's smirk back to her face.

"Like I said, though: she made it very clear that she doesn't like me and the 'almost kiss'—or whatever it was—meant nothing. So if she doesn't like me but she doesn't hate me, what's left?"

"Something in between?" Something about this made me pause. For the longest time, Annabeth and I were just forced English partners, then our tutoring session came up and for half of a second, I...liked her. Then Rachel spilled about knowing about my dad and I's fight and I started hating her again. So was "in between..." friends? Did she think of us as friends?

When I didn't answer, Thalia added. "Whatever. Either way, maybe you should find out if she really did tell anyone or not."

"Why can't you?" I asked a little more harshly than she probably deserved. "Even if she didn't tell anyone which I highly doubt, I'm still not in the mood to talk to her."

"Then good luck finishing this English project of yours and making it to your second year, Jackson, 'cause it's not my problem." My blood pressure rose as I realized that she was right. With an annoyed groan, I side stepped her and started walking towards my next class. She called after me. "Oh, and Jackson? Try and figure out what's bothering her while you're at it. I hate being wrong and I _know_ you've got something to do with it."

I turned around to meet her gaze. "And how do you _know_ that?"

"Because I know everything." She smirked before clomping away in her boots.

* * *

You can imagine that I really didn't get much sleep after that. I got myself to go to English on my required days, but I avoided eye contact—and really _any_ contact—with Annabeth. It turned out to be surprisingly easy because she didn't come near me either. We sat across the room from each other, her head buried in a book and my eyes scrolling on Facebook.

I snuck a peek over at her a couple of times out of curiosity, but quickly corrected myself and turned back to my computer. However, there was a time where she must have felt my eyes on her because she looked back. Our eyes locked for half of a second before she hid back in her book, her cheeks red. I did notice something in that half of a second though: Thalia was right about Annabeth being upset over something. Her most-commonly dark and dagger-filled eyes looked sad and her hair fell just a little limp.

_Maybe I _did _do something,_ I thought, but then I brushed that thought away when I remembered that _she_ hurt _me_. Well, not as much _hurt _as she _fazed_ me for a little bit. Also, on top of that, there's a good chance that she blabbed about my soon-to-be expulsion from OU. I couldn't help but wonder what I ever did to her.

On Wednesday just before Chiron dismissed us, Annabeth wearing obnoxiously loud thigh-high heels _click-clacked_ up to me. It was the first time I had even come close to her in almost a week. "Percy?" she said.

_That's it?_ I asked myself. _No "Seaweed Brain," no "Move, I need the computer," no "Can you _not_ breathe so loudly anymore? Or not at all?" _The way she even said my name sounded too sweet, like she was being careful. I couldn't blame her: I really wasn't sure how to talk to her anymore either. It's hard talking to someone who was your enemy then someone you thought was beautiful who then turned you down and could possibly have started rumors about you so you started hating again. "What?" I finally responded.

"I was just wondering if you wanted some help again on Friday," she said.

"No, thanks. I'm good."

"Mhm, I bet."

"Really, I am."

She nodded as if she actually believed me. "Then how did you do on your Calc test yesterday?"

I narrowed my eyes. "How did you know I had a test?"

"You told me last week, Seaweed Brain." The fully annoyance still wasn't back in her tone. It was more like she knew she should have been annoyed, but something else was on her mind, and I knew _something_ was because her "thinking face" had made a regular appearance this week. "You said you were 'totally screwed.' So how'd it go?"

I gritted my teeth. "It went fine, thank you."

"'Fine' as in you failed it?"

I gave her a look. "How did you know that?"

"I didn't," she said, obviously trying to hold back a laugh. She was making me so frustrated even being near her that I had to hold back from pushing her right out of her heels. "But it's not hard to guess. So do you want my help or not?"

"I said no," I repeated. I grabbed my backpack and followed the rest of our class into the hallways. Annabeth grabbed her own bag and stayed right on my tail.

"Is there a reason you're being extra dick-like today?"

"Nope. Bye now."

"Percy, seriously, what did I ever do to you?"

I froze in place which caused Annabeth to run into my back. "What did you _do_?" I spat. "Are you serious?"

"Yes!" she answered just as bitterly. "What. Did. I. Do?"

I spun around, grabbed her arm, and pulled her into a nearby empty classroom. I struggled to find words to say because I didn't know what to say first. My fists clinched and I threw my back pack on the ground. "Do you want me to be honest?"

She mocked my stance and threw her backpack on the ground with just as much force, then she spread her arms out. "Well, considering no one else is here, _yes_."

"You're a self-centered, preppy, stupid-smart, annoying, deceiving bitch!"

"And you're a illogical, airheaded, _stupid_-stupid, egotistical bastard!" she shouted back. "Now that that's out of the way, what's _really_ bothering you!?"

"Why the hell do you care!?" I said. "Clearly you don't care about me enough to keep my secrets _secret_."

She raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"You told everyone about how I almost flunked Calc last tri!" I said. Thalia's deadly glare flashed in my head and I found myself praying that I wasn't wrong. "Now everyone's talking about how 'Percy's being kicked out of OU by his own daddy!'"

"I did not!" she defended. Her expression went from confused to genuinely hurt. _Dammit. _

"Why should I believe you?"

"Why _shouldn't_ you?" she said. "If about thirty seconds ago wasn't enough of an example, I'm not exactly _dishonest _with you."

_Dammit, dammit, dammit._ "Then who would?" I asked.

"I don't know! Maybe someone overheard or—" She froze.

"What?"

"Luke."

"What about him?" Luke wasn't even in our English class, so I couldn't think of a way how he would overhear me telling Annabeth about everything. Unless...I was right.

My jaw dropped open and I was ready to punch a wall. So I did. I heard a crunch in my left hand and pain shot through my fingers, but as cheesy as it sounds, that was nothing compared to how hurt I felt internally.

Annabeth ran over and pulled me away from the wall, but I shook her off. "Percy! What the hell!?"

"You told _Luke_!? Out of anyone that you just had to open your big mouth to, it had to be _Luke!?"_

Her face fell. "I'm sorry, I—"

"Un-fucking-believable," I mumbled.

"Percy, please, listen to me—"

"Why should I?" I said. "I didn't even have to tell you in the first place, but I did. I...I trusted you, Annabeth."

The last time I had seen Annabeth look like this was Thanksgiving: hurt and guilty at the same time. For a moment, I even felt bad for making her feel like that. But only for a moment.

"Percy, I-I'm so sorry, I know I shouldn't have bu—"

"Then why did you?"

"Well, you need to shut up so I can tell you!" I stayed quiet and crossed my arms, however I forgot about my probably-broken hand and winced. Annabeth winced with me. "First can we go to the nurse so you can get your hand wrapped or something?"

"Nope, story first," I said. "And it's my hand, not my leg. I'm perfectly capable of walking to the nurse myself."

She backed away. "Fine. Look, I had no choice, okay? Luke wanted to hang out on Friday but I said I couldn't because I was hanging out with you. Now, obviously he didn't believe me—"

I chuckled dryly. "No shit."

"—and then he got mad."

The mood in the room changed. If the air wasn't already thick enough, it was now. "Why would he get mad?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know, he just did." She started picking at her nails and her eyebrows knitted together. I knew that look.

"You're lying. I thought we just clarified that you don't lie to me." She stayed quiet. "Annabeth, what did he do?"

"Nothing," she hissed.

"Stop lying."

"I'm not lying!" Her glazed-over eyes met mine. "Look, he was just upset, okay? So I wanted to clarify that I was tutoring you in Calc so you could get your grade up. That's it, I swear."

Suddenly, I wasn't as interested in her telling Luke about my grade and him just being an idiot and spreading it all over school. "Wise Girl, you're not telling me everything."

"Why do you care?"

"Because Thalia said something was bothering you over the weekend and I could tell that that was true all week. Now what else happened?"

"You talked to Thalia?"

"Stop changing the subject," I snapped. Annabeth again didn't say anything and she wiped a tear away. She must have felt embarrassed just then because she turned away from me and fanned her face. I wanted so badly to hug her or something to comfort her, but I didn't. I doubted that she would have let me anyway. "So he got mad?" She nodded. "Why?" I repeated.

Again, she shrugged. "I guess he thought something was, like, going on between you and I."

"Are you guys together again?" I asked. My heart rate quickened.

She started pacing, the only sound in the room being the slow _click-clack_ of her annoying heels. "I don't really know. It's complicated, I guess. I feel like..." She paused. "Okay, this is weird talking about this with you."

I smiled. "I know."

She smiled back and didn't argue any further. "It's like he thinks we're together more than I do. I mean, I like him, I guess, but... I don't know." My stomach turned at the thought of Annabeth being with a dick like Luke.

Desperate to get off the topic, I asked, "So he was jealous?"

She chuckled. "He's a jealous wreck. Always has been."

_Can't blame him_. I shook that thought away. "But that doesn't make any sense. If you don't really think you're...with him, then why did you tell him?"

"To calm him down."

"Jeez, he really does get jealous."

She smiled again but her expression was quickly overtaken by sadness. Again, she started picking at her nails. My chest tightened. "Annabeth," I said quietly. "how mad did he get?"

She bit her lip. "Pretty mad."

I closed the distance between us and set my good hand on her arm. "Was he mad at you or me?"

"Me."

I waited until she looked me in the eyes. Real Annabeth was back and so were the butterflies. However, the butterflies were muffled by anger and her sparkling gray eyes were filled with fear. "Did he hit you, Wise Girl?"

She jumped. "No."

"I don't believe you."

"Well, you should," she defended. I tightened my grip but she pulled away.

"Promise me that he didn't and I'll believe you."

She walked over to her bag and threw it over her shoulder. "I promise."

I took a breath and nodded. "Okay, I believe you. But he wanted to, didn't he?"

Annabeth _click-clacked_ over to my bag and picked it up as well. Then she walked back over and handed it to me. "We should go. You need to get your hand looked at."

I grabbed her arm again. "Didn't he?"

"I don't know, Percy, okay? Can we just be done with this?"

I let go of her and took my backpack. "And you still want to tutor me again on Friday?"

She half-smiled. "Well, I said I would, and there's no way your own intelligence is going to keep you here anyway, right?"

I smiled. There was so much more that I wanted to say right then about Rachel, about Luke, last Friday, _this_ Friday; I was even hoping she would tell me where she thought we stood. Did we still hate each other? Were we friends? Did _Luke have a reason to be jealous? _I sucked in a breath and almost choked.

Annabeth led the way out of the empty classroom with a fresh dent in its wall. Neither of us said anything until I thought out loud. "Luke better hope he doesn't see me anytime soon."

Annabeth didn't respond and instead just sped away to her next class. _Click-clack, click-clack_.

* * *

**reviews please ! -kenna(:**


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